Windows 7 Pro and Zonealarm Free Firewall

Hello, all.

I have a question regarding ZoneAlarm Free Firewall and a clean Windows 7 Pro install I did back in January of this year on an Asus N53 series laptop. I have been using ZoneAlarm Free firewall for many years with my Xp systems and decided to continue using it with my Windows 7 install. I am now reading that Zone Alarm has become (has been) very resource heavy and that the Windows 7 firewall is much improved over previous versions of Windows firewalls. So my question is, Is Zone Alarm still as resource heavy (version as of 1/2013 to present) as it has been in the past or has it improved?

Zone Alarm used to be a great firewall but I've heard it's nearly impossible to completely uninstall. I was thinking of uninstalling Zone Alarm and using the Windows 7 firewall or Comodo instead. Opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hello slipstream55 and welcome to Seven Forums.

Just my personal opinion FWIW. I've been using the built-in Windows 7 firewall without any problems. It's definitely more robust and user configurable than previous versions but like beauty, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Others may totally dislike the 7 firewall.

If you want to remove ZoneAlarm the do make an uninstall tool.

ZoneAlarm Uninstall Tool Download

Or you could get the 30-day trial version of Revo Uninstaller which should also work.

Revo Uninstaller Pro - Uninstall Software, Remove Programs easily, Forced Uninstall, Leftovers Uninstaller

I personally prefer Zone Alarm's free firewall. I find it much easier to use than Win 7's, especially for setting it for outbound transmissions. I can't tell it's slowing my system down any. I just checked the task manager and it's showing zatray is using only 4.2MB.