Hello! I’ve just installed Avast 4 Home Edition and there seemed to be a incompatibility issue with my Zonealarm firewall. A window popped up suggesting I turn off some sort of Shield setting in Avast so I can continue using both Avast and Zone Alarm but I closed it by accident without reading it thoroughly. I looked at my Avast icon on my toolbar and it said there are 5 out of 7 shields running. Is there some sort of configuration that I have to set manually? Or is Zone Alarm just not compatible with Avast? If that is the case, can someone recommend a better free firewall?
The compatibility check is for ZA Pro as it has a Privacy function which can conflict with the web shield.
Normally there would be 6 out of 7 shields running so I guess the Web Shield one isn’t running ?
The other one would normally be Outlook/Exchange, which shouldn’t be running unless you are using MS Outlook (not exchange).
You need to set your browser/s to use the web shield proxy.
http://www.avast.com/eng/webshield_issues.html
- ZONE ALARM - AVAST Web Shield compatibility dialogue - Install/Update Question - YES or NO
If you are using ZoneAlarm Free you should click NO, because privacy features are not present in ZoneAlarm Free this will not turn off web shield transparent mode proxy (Note the avast check should now be able to differentiate between ZA and ZA Pro so you may not see this interface if using ZA free).
Use a text editor and edit the avast4.ini file, the default installation location is C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\DATA\avast4.ini (I would advise you copy avast4.ini before editing it, just in case).
If you answered incorrectly, Locate the line containing ZoneAlarmCompatibility= and delete that line (avast will ask again, answer NO) or change the value to =0. Save the edited avast4.ini file.
If you are using ZoneAlarm Pro and Privacy Control in ZoneAlarm is set to High and if you click YES in avast compatibility dialogue box the transparent mode proxy in web shield will be turned off you have to manually configure browser to access internet. To manually configure your browser watch instructional video
For IE - broadband users: - Tutorial - Web Shield Proxy Set-up for IE
For IE - dialup users - Tutorial - Web Shield Proxy Set-up for IE (Dial-up)
For Firefox users - Tutorial - Web Shield Proxy Set-up for Firefox
David posted this answer.
Yes, it’s compatible.
There are better firewalls, like Comodo.