Firewall protection

The first thing we noticed about ZoneAlarm's firewall is that it does not monitor the network profile you set in Windows. On our test computer, it always used a Trusted firewall mode, regardless of the network profile set in Windows. However, you can make changes manually, to get the right kind of network protection.

To test how good the firewall is, we tested its reaction to several network vulnerability scans that we ran with Nessus and Nmap. When using a private network, Nessus found 5 open ports and also showed that the computer was vulnerable to "man-in-the-middle" attacks, while Nmap found 7 open ports. On a public profile setting, both Nessus and Nmap did not manage to find any open ports. The only other interesting thing that they discovered was the MAC address, but this information does not pose any security risks.

The firewall protection offered by ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall is good when you are using a public profile for your network. However, when using a private network profile, you are exposed to "man-in-the-middle" attacks.

Antivirus and antispyware protection

One of the most important things about a security suite is how good its antimalware protection is. The first thing that we tested was the behavior of ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall when you are surfing malicious websites. We visited the same set of dangerous websites, using some of the most popular browsers at the moment: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. As we expected, ZoneAlarm did not stop us from loading any of the malicious websites.

Then, we wanted to see what ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall did when we connected a removable drive that we previously filled with malicious files. We took the infected USB memory stick and plugged it in. The suite did not start an automatic scan, nor did it ask if we wanted to scan this drive. However, ZoneAlarm scanned the files on it when we accessed them in File Explorer. Unfortunately, it did not scan all the folders found on the memory stick, so we had to run a custom scan to get rid of all the malware on it. It is not the best behavior in our opinion, but it is not the worst either.

The next test we performed was to install ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall on a computer that was already infected with malware, including with some ransomware samples. The process went great, and the suite was able to install itself and then start its real-time antivirus and firewall services. When done, it immediately began detecting and disinfecting the system. We let it do its job and then we also triggered a manual full system scan. In the end, the operating system was up and running like nothing bad ever happened, and that is a great result!

While testing ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall, we also did a couple of measurements on how fast it is at scanning a computer for viruses. On a Windows 10 system partition that is 126GB large and has about 35GB of files on it, ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall needed 6 minutes on average to do a full system antivirus scan. That is an average time, similar to that of many other antivirus engines.

Finally, we wanted to see what other independent security organizations had to say about ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall:

• AV-Test awarded ZoneAlarm Pro Free Antivirus + Firewall with a score of 6 points out of 6 for protection and usability, and 5 out of 6 for performance. These are good results

• AV-Comparatives and Virus Bulletin did not test any of ZoneAlarm's security products.

ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall offers a good level of protection against offline malware threats, but it does not protect you against online threats. ZoneAlarm's antivirus module is efficient and reliable, but unfortunately, the company decided to cut its web filter engine and offer it only to paying customers.

Extra features

ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall includes a few additional features:

• Identity Protection is a third-party service that is designed to protect your identity when online. It is provided free of charge for one year, after which you have to pay for it. Unfortunately, this service is offered only to users based in the United States. You can find more information here.

• Online Backup gives you 5 GB of online cloud storage space that is offered by a third-party website called IDrive. You need to install a separate app and register an account for this service. However, IDrive gives 5GB for free to anyone, so the fact that you are using ZoneAlarm's products does not give you any additional benefits.

ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall offers only two extra features and the only one that we believe that it could be useful to its users is the Identity Protection. However, unfortunately, it is available only to US users.

What is your opinion about ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall?

As you know now, our opinion is that ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus + Firewall is a mixed bag. It comes with a good antivirus engine and a capable firewall module, but the firewall does not detect the network profile set in Windows 10. Also, the lack of a web shield to protect you from online threats is a no-go for us. Do you agree with us, or do you have another opinion? Use the comments below to share your thoughts.