

Previous versions of ZoneAlarm’s consumer products relied on an antivirus engine licensed from Kaspersky.

ZoneAlarm lets you schedule a quick or full scan to run daily, weekly, or monthly.

Even so, many users like to schedule a regular scan, for maximum protection. Once you’ve performed that first full scan the real-time protection system should theoretically handle any new incursions from the malware realm. The latter two have a Buy Now overlay, indicating you don’t get them for free. Four icons across the bottom offer access to Antivirus, Firewall, Web Secure, and Anti-Ransomware. Concentric circles in red or green emphasize the status indicator. A security status indicator displays a green checkmark if all is well or a red X if there’s a problem.

Prior to the current NextGen release, ZoneAlarm’s appearance hadn’t changed significantly in more than 10 years and it was looking dated. Like Norton and others, ZoneAlarm downloads the most recent antivirus signatures as part of the installation process. Simply put, you don't have to spend any money to do better.Įnlisting ZoneAlarm to protect your PC is a simple matter of downloading and running the free installer, which in turn downloads the latest application code. However, unlike the best free antivirus tools, ZoneAlarm puts limits on your free antivirus protection, and a significant component of its firewall protection is temporarily unavailable as of this writing. Check Point's ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus NextGen gives you antivirus and firewall at no charge, and the antivirus is based on what that company's Enterprise customers get. A full security suite adds more components-a VPN and a password manager come to mind-but basic antivirus plus firewall is all some people want. If you’ve installed a firewall along with antivirus protection, your PC should be well protected.
