ZoneAlarm Security Suite 2010

ZoneAlarm Security Suite is the easy-to-use, comprehensive security solution that is based on the world's best firewall to keep out hackers, viruses, worms, and other threats. It combines the most popular firewall with antivirus, Web site filtering, privacy protection, instant messaging security and more to provide the best overall protection of any PC security suite. 


ZoneAlarm Security Suite is comprehensive, all-in-one suite is a tightly integrated set of advanced security layers that, together, create the most secure protection in the industry. Uniquely engineered to prevent threats from getting on a PC in the first place, it has won more major awards than any other security software on the market. The suite combines the robust security features computer experts demand with automatic functions that make it simple enough for novices to use.

ZoneAlarm's Security Suite is one of the best security suites we've seen. Its interface is far easier to use and understand than the competition's, and its feature set, which includes a personal information vault and IM message encryption, puts the comparably priced Norton Internet Security and McAfee Internet Security to shame. While there are still some areas (namely spam filtering) that we'd like to see ZoneAlarm beef up in later versions, overall, ZoneAlarm Security Suite is the suite to beat for all-around Internet privacy and security, whether you use your PC from home or take the corporate laptop out on the road.

Considering ZoneAlarm Security Suite's modest price, we are impressed with the breadth and depth of its features. In addition to thwarting would-be hackers with its excellent firewall and viruses with its solid antivirus software, ZoneAlarm Security Suite encrypts instant messages for ICQ, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo and protects you against IM spam (a.k.a. spim). It also filters Web e-mail scripts, suppresses TCP/IP responses on unused ports to better hide your system from Internet scanners, and monitors all inbound and outbound Web contacts, alerting you to any unauthorized access. Both McAfee's and Norton's Internet security suites provide similar protection.

We're especially impressed by ZoneAlarm Security Suite's unique privacy control feature, which lets you store and track user-defined personal information in an encrypted "information vault." If you subsequently type any of that data, such as your credit card number, on a Web site, ZoneAlarm asks whether you want the destination added to your Trusted Sites list. If you say no, the outbound transmission is blocked. This feature stops keystroke loggers and other tools used by identity thieves; currently, it isn't included within either the McAfee or Norton Internet security packages.