Is it compatible with Avast Free ?
I believe so, as long as your placing the neccesary exclusions in place there should be no problems.
Use Avast pro 7 and my system is xp. No problems with Zone Alarm free. 
uno_persson, craigb “I believe so, as long as your placing the neccesary exclusions in place there should be no problems.”
I have tried 3 times to install it and it stalls at 18% of the Configure procedure, the last one. I have had to uninstall it (3 times) to regain inetrnet connection. Do you think that I should suspend Windows Defender or Threatfire during the Install?
Personally i would disable Defender all together, avast is already got you covered there and Threatfire i dont believe is even updated anymore so i would uninstall it.
If you dont have any luck with Zonealarm then there is always Online Armor Free or Privatefirewall.
Defender is useful for assuring System Restore points I assumed and doesnt get in the way, but as a shield pretty feeble and clunking for what it does as a scanner (which I always turn off).
I installed an uninstalled ZA for the fourth and last time. I do not know what kept stopping it in the final stage. It was even blocking internet access until uninstalled.
An additional Firewall to the MS Vista one seems to be a good idea though, to cover for Avast which cannot cover everything, even though it remains by far the best AV of the frewrae AVs I have tried (Avira and AVG.)
I note that as an Avast Free user you lay store on a paid firewall, Outpost Firewall Pro. Of the two you suggested, I like the CNET write up on Privatefirewall (assuming no installation issues). Would you recommend that as an additional shield for online booking (and therefore banking)? Not forgetting other popular sites targeted by hackers?
Hi
I find online armor works very nicely with avast… 8)
HPY Privatefirewall is quite good and light and does add an extra layer of protection, of the two that i mentioned i would recommend Online Armor though as i feel it’s a more seasoned firewall with it being around alot longer than PFW and i feel its also easyer and smarter to understand and navigate, OA also include’s exceptional HIP’s.
I would normally recommend Outpost but you seem to be interested in the free and Outpost free is still usable but it’s getting outdated, the only way to obtain the newest free version of outpost firewall is to install Outpost security suite free 7.1.1 and disable all features bar the firewall.
Now it up to you too see which one suits your system better
craigb
Thanks.
I went to a correct page for Online-Armor-Free and as you see at the top of the page http://download.cnet.com/Online-Armor-Free/3010-10435_4-12535801.html?tag=contentBody;whatsnew#whatsnew
there is an invitation to download ARO 2012 for a quick scan, which I took thinking it was part of the free OA download. I is now scanning and billions of file errors measured in kb. which is quite incomparable with, say, CCleaner’s registry scan. I am letting the scan finish, but will not let ARO “fix errors” -3372!!- until I hear from you, because I do not think it has anything to do with emsisofts’s OA >:(
Just to be sure - where is the OA free download ?
You clicked on an advertisement on that page. CNET is notorious for running confusing ads.
Go here for download from Emsisoft → http://www.online-armor.com/products-online-armor-free.php
Thanks. Will do.
The last time I ran one of those “speed up your PC” error scans, it ‘buddered up’ the XP system I had for that laptop. I shall delete the ARO2012 .exe immediately. I am glad I did not apply “Fix” !
I was just about to say that, cancel the scan and delet that rubbish as fast as you can - reboot and run CCleaner to hopefully remove all the remnants, this is why we dont recommend CNET anymore, stick to filehippo, file forums or softpedia.
OA free direct download link http://download11.emsisoft.com/OnlineArmorSetup.exe
Thanks CraigB.
I confused you with CharyB and downloaded this . exe http://www.online-armor.com/products-online-armor-free.php which I presume is the same. (thanks CharyB).
I have run CCleaner and hopefully removed the leftovers. I will install tomorrow - enough excitement for today 
CraigB/CharyB
I rebooted and did another CCleanup, and ARO2012 tried to stop me although I had cleaned its exe. from the rubbish bin. It has gone and I cleaned the registry.
Thanks all.
btw Threatfire is unintrusive (as long as you don’t use the scan which is a drag on the sytem), but it still updates.
The only use for Threatfire was the realtime behaviour scanning so if your not running it realtime then there really is no point in having it, the def’s may still recieve updates but the program is no longer updated which is just another reason to not use it anymore.
Good luck with the firewall
I thought it just sat there passively in realtime (all the time) watching for behavouristic changes. That is a sort of scan, surely?
That’s odd my reply is not showing. I thought that Threatfire sat there in realtime watching for irregularaties like behaviouristic changes which is a type of scan, surely?
Didn’t you say you dont use the scan though? which i understood as realtime switched off ??? anyway it is a drag on the system, an excellent and very light program to watch over your system behaviour is WinPatrol, the free version is delayed scanning while the plus version is realtime http://www.winpatrol.com/
CraigB- “Didn’t you say you dont use the scan though?”
I had periodically used its Intelliscan for rootkits etc. and it never found anything and slowed the system. So yes, I no longer use it.
What I meant was that according to its advertising it is permanently montoring the system passively for iregularities (which to my mind is a scan or at least a shield.)
I am not trying to promote it, but just repeating what it says in the blurb http://www.threatfire.com/ - it is very light on the system and updates daily, that much is true.
WinPatrol may well be better. I should look at it.
Thanks.