Thread: ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2009

ONEALARM IS THE GRANDDADDY OF personal firewalls. And though Internet Security Suite was beginning to show its age, the company has completely changed the program's look with ISS 2009. Once you get past the facade, though, things are much the same as in the previous version. In some areas, ZoneAlarm actually seems to be losing ground. Even so, it's still among the best security suites.

The new user interface trades in the colorful, at times garish tones of its predecessor for a more muted theme with consistent icons. The overview page reports on overall security status and offers "Fix it" buttons if there's any configuration problem. As before, the product's major protection areas run down the left side, but now the subdivisions of the selected item appear directly below it instead of across the top of the screen-a really definite improvement.



To ZoneAlarm's credit, every attempt I made to disable or outwit its firewall was unsuccessful. And the suite has improved its program control by getting rid of the fusillade of pop-up queries it threw at users in favor of Smart Defense Advisor, which automatically configures access for over two million programs. When I ran malware "leak tests," ZoneAlarm blocked all but one. It showed mixed results on my spyware tests, blocking most of the adware, spyware, rootkits, Trojans, and worms. One system crashed with a blue-screen error during installation, a problem I was able to fix after elaborate instructions from technical sup¬port.

To its credit, ZoneAlarm's spam filter is one of the most comprehensive out there. And you get a one-year free subscription to Identity Guard Good Start protection. It's still a fine choice, but I look forward to a makeover that's more than skindeep.-Nei/J Rubenking