Zonealarm Free

I have 1gb FTTP installed. I was getting 910mbps down until I installed Zonealarm Free. After I installed that I was getting 170mpbs.
I uninstalled it and I'm back to 910mbps.
Worth checking if you have the same situation as I had.

Is that still going. I remember that from XP days.

Indeed personal firewall / AV is right up the list, along with, many others than have been described here and elsewhere. It really shows up local network and PC performance issues that folks probably never realised before. Some others off the top of my head....

- Older PC hardware without sufficiently up to date subsystems and/or processing power to sustain high network throughput
- Cheap quality NICs and poorly written drivers (e.g certain Realtek NICs compared to say Intel NICs are know for poor sustained gigabit throughput) or TCP offload issues
- Insufficient router performance - switching gigabit is one thing but NAT/routing/firewall performance is another thing altogether
- ISP supplied router / hub firmware bugs and performance issues (hello BT!)
- LAN switch port issues, NIC power-save issues
- Third party VPN software that alters windows network settings
- Operating system patches and updates
- Poor quality fixed data cabling, dodgy patch leads form fleabay and Amazon
- WiFi !

In reply to a post by Rytenuff:

Worth checking if you have the same situation as I had.

Nobody really uses Zonealarm in 2021 do they? I used that on Win98SE back in 1999 when I had a cable modem with no router in front. (Then I bought the Linksys BEFSR41 and never looked back).

Assuming you have up to date Windows 10, you should be using the built in firewall. It can pretty much do everything you need, if you spend time configuring it.

ZoneAlarm what is this 2001?

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

ZoneAlarm what is this 2001?

Assuming you have up to date Windows 10, you should be using the built in firewall..

Its an antivirus -

Free, Reliable and Powerful
The ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus protects you from viruses, malware, spyware, and other cyber threats while securing your identity and privacy from hackers. It allows you to search the web safely, download clean files only, and avoid phishing attacks before they happen.

https://www.zonealarm.com/software/free-antivirus

Edited by deleted (Sat 24-Apr-21 15:23:11)

In reply to a post by Chippy_Tea_:

Its an antivirus -

Then its checking every packet, and only designed for those on 100 Mbps or slower connections.

Too many vendors now, and their software is trying to replace low level parts of an operating system they didn't develop. I think most AV vendors are terrified their industry is over.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Chippy_Tea_:

Its an antivirus -

Then its checking every packet, and only designed for those on 100 Mbps or slower connections.

Too many vendors now, and their software is trying to replace low level parts of an operating system they didn't develop. I think most AV vendors are terrified their industry is over.

That may be the case or it may be that its just not very good, i looked and a typical list of best to worst (posted below) doesn't even have ZA on it, i use AVG and have for years and have never had a problem.



Avast Free Antivirus

Kaspersky Security Cloud Free

AVG AntiVirus Free

Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition

Sophos Home Free

Avira Antivirus

Microsoft Windows Defender Security Center

In reply to a post by Chippy_Tea_:

That may be the case or it may be that its just not very good, i looked and a typical list of best to worst (posted below) doesn't even have ZA on it, i use AVG and have for years and have never had a problem.

I don’t trust those lists, If you follow the money majority of them are funded by companies that make AV software.

I know some big corporates (over 400,000 users) whom only use the Windows Defender subscription version (WDATP) and have not noticed any difference in protection, but a loss less helpdesk tickets.

Each to their own

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Chippy_Tea_:

That may be the case or it may be that its just not very good, i looked and a typical list of best to worst (posted below) doesn't even have ZA on it, i use AVG and have for years and have never had a problem.

I don’t trust those lists, If you follow the money majority of them are funded by companies that make AV software.

I know some big corporates (over 400,000 users) whom only use the Windows Defender subscription version (WDATP) and have not noticed any difference in protection, but a loss less helpdesk tickets.

Each to their own

ZA doesn't make the list at this independent test site -
https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/wi...