It’s usually not what you think – the 6.5 release error with McAfee
I’m one of the long-timers at Zone Labs, here since the first release of ZoneAlarm Pro. I’ve stuck with Zone Labs mostly because of the people – quality people who are sincerely out to make a good product.
So one of the frustrating yet inevitable issues I’ve faced over the years is trying to explain our innocence to our customers when we mess up in a world where customers are (rightfully) suspicious of a company’s every move. It was just a mistake!
The 6.5 McAfee Issue
And this brings me to the latest incarnation of this issue: the recent 6.5 release. No, we really weren’t trying to usurp McAfee antivirus by making customers uninstall McAfee before they could install their ZoneAlarm update. It wasn’t a lame marketing program (yes, we’ve been guilty of one or two of those over the years).
It was…just an error.
It happened quite simply: An incompatibility was discovered with a particular McAfee product in an overseas market, beyond the usual antivirus-to-antivirus incompatibility. A bug was logged. The problem was discussed. And a solution was decided upon: Create an install gate for ZoneAlarm antivirus products and for this particular overseas market only – a rare use case – until we can work with McAfee to fix it. Software companies deal with stuff like this all of the time, so it was no big deal. But like a great game of telephone, we ended up restricting the installation for *all* ZoneAlarm products (not just antivirus products) and for *all* markets (overseas and US).
"They’re trying to usurp McAfee! They did this on purpose. They’ll never admit it." Our userbase doesn’t use our software for nothing. They’re smart, savvy, and they demand respect and privacy. At the slightest essence of something that could possibly be construed as slyness or scheming on our part, they call us on it. And with the stunts companies out there are pulling, we don’t blame them. So we do the only thing we really can do: be open and honest, explain what happened, apologize, make it right, and leave the rest in our customers’ hands.
And nearly always, our customers (you) reward us by giving us the benefit of the doubt, often times even going up to bat for us in user forums. We appreciate it.
Oh…sorry for the inconvenience. We sincerely apologize.
Details on the fix:
The McAfee issue described above has been fixed and is available in a new version that is being released to all customers as I write this. Expect an update notification soon if you’ve not received one already.
What about the reverse? I’m trying to install Mcafee, and it won’t install the antivirus with Zone Alarm Pro installed. I have version 6.5.722.000. It’s really starting to bug me. I need antivirus protection, and my Norton has expired, and I hate Norton anyway… it turns my computer into a slug. I can get Mcafee free through my Comcast internet service… but the part I need, the virus scan, refuses to install with Zone Alarm installed.
The McAfee phone support guy just told me that McAfee won’t install with Zone Alarm on your PC. Before I take McAfee back (I’ve been a customer for years but if I have to choose, I’ll take Zone Alarm), is there a workaround to this?
Thanks.
I’m seriously thinking about going from Norton to the ZoneAlarm suite. I really haven’t been happy with Norton lately (anti-virus and personal firewall). There’s been three times in the last year (once on my computer and twice on my wife’s) where Norton Systemworks has just spontaneously shut down anti-virus protection. I’m not too happy about software that just spontaneously quits working with no alert while I’m happily cruising the internet until I happen to see the icon with a red slash through it in the system tray. Simply turning auto-protect back on brings a message that I don’t have the administrator rights to do so–and that’s while I’m logged in as Administrator! I don’t know if it’s a hacker successfully getting in, a virus getting through, or a problem with Norton’s software. Either way, it’s not a good situation!
What I hate even more is that the only fix is to completely re-install. I’m not sure if anybody else has seen these problems.
From what I’m seeing in the reviews (credible sources like PC Magazine and CNET), ZoneAlarm suite is a better product and cheaper. I just bought a new computer days ago and I want good protection. I went and spent all this money on a new computer, so it’s pretty silly to nickel-and-dime or be willy-nilly about protecting it from viruses, trojans, and hackers. I’m still looking but I’m seriously considering a switch.
It’s nice antivirus…..!