ZoneAlarm by Check Point - Award winning PC Protection, Antivirus, Firewall, Anti-Spyware, Identity Protection, and much more.

Complete System Requirements for All ZoneAlarm Products

The following minimum requirements are recommended for the best performance levels and experience with our software. Installing our software on computers that do not meet these requirements is possible but will result in a lower-quality user experience, and in particular slower performance.

Operating system requirements

Microsoft® Windows® 7:

32-bit / 64-bit, 2 GB RAM
2 GHz or faster processor
250MB of available hard-disk space (100MB for ZoneAlarm free firewall)

Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 or SP2
Business / Home Premium / Ultimate:

32-bit / 64-bit, 2 GB RAM
2 GHz or faster processor
250MB of available hard-disk space (100MB for ZoneAlarm free firewall)

Microsoft Windows, XP SP2 or SP3

Home / Professional:
32-bit, 1GB RAM
1 GHz or faster processor
250MB of available hard-disk space(100MB for ZoneAlarm free firewall)

Feature-specific requirements

Browser security requirements

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8
Mozilla Firefox 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 3.6

Spam filtering and MailSafe requirements (not available in all ZoneAlarm products)

Spam Filtering protocols:

IMAP4
POP3 (YahooPops POP3 e-mail service not supported.)
HTTP in conjunction with Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail ( Vista) only. (Microsoft Exchange not supported.)

Spam Filtering e-mail clients:

Outlook and Outlook Express
Windows Mail for Vista 32 and 64 (Windows Live Mail is not supported)

MailSafe protocols:

SMTP outbound only

Laptop Hard Drive Encryption requirements (optional add-on; not available in all ZoneAlarm products):
*Note: Your computer will be checked for compatibility with Hard Drive Encryption at installation time. Not all systems will be compatible.

Ability to write to a USB stick, floppy disk, or CD from your laptop (CD-burning software with ISO-burning capability also needed if you use a CD to make your recovery disk)
Laptop PC

Parental controls (Not available in all ZoneAlarm products):
Parental controls work for any Web browser, and for any program that can be used to surf the Web.

Additional requirements

ZoneAlarm security software works with most types of TCP/IP connections including Ethernet LAN, wireless LAN, DSL, cable modem, and dial-up connections. The ideal resolution for ZoneAlarm security software is 1024 x 768 or higher. Some software screens might not display properly at resolutions of 800 x 600 or lower.

Microsoft Operating Systems Support Status
Current Operating System Support Information:
It is ZoneAlarm's policy to extend protection to customers of all Microsoft Windows operating systems as long as the following conditions apply:

The operating system itself is still supported by its creating company (Microsoft) with automatic and proactive security updates to protect customers against the latest security vulnerabilities.
The operating system can technically support the ZoneAlarm software without negatively effecting the users security.

When these above criteria are not met, we will, at the sole discretion of Check Point Software Technologies, discontinue support of the operating system. We will make every attempt to give prior notice to customers before discontinuing support for an operating system.

Operating System	ZoneAlarm End-of-Life Status
Windows 7	Supported All currently shipping ZoneAlarm products will run without limitation on the Windows 7 operating system.
Windows Vista	Supported All of our current shipping products run on the Windows Vista operating system. Due to the different needs and functionality of the Vista operating system, some features and functionality on 2000/XP may differ on Vista.
Windows XP	Supported All of our current shipping products run on the Windows Vista operating system. Due to the different needs and functionality of the Vista operating system, some features and functionality on 2000/XP may differ on Vista.
Windows 2000	Support Discontinued In 2005, Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 2000. In 2010, Microsoft will end extended support for Windows 2000, which will make this operating system less secure and increasingly prone to hacking exploits. ( http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx ). As a result, Check Point will cease to support Windows 2000 with the introduction of our version 8.0 ZoneAlarm family of products including ZoneAlarm® Internet Security Suite 2009, ZoneAlarm® Pro, ZoneAlarm® Antivirus, ZoneAlarm® Anti-Spyware, and ZoneAlarm®. Note about pre-8.0 products: Pre-8.0 products will continue to run on the Windows 2000 operating system and receive signature updates such as virus and spyware signatures. However, there will be new and advanced protection features in post-8.0 ZoneAlarm products that will not be added to pre-8.0 products. ZoneAlarm strongly recommends upgrading to a supported and current version of the Windows operating system. ZoneAlarm may end services to pre-8.0 products at any time.
Windows 98se/ME	Support Discontinued On July 11, 2006, Microsoft will end support for Windows 98, 98SE and Me, which will have the resulting effect of making these operating systems less secure ( http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx ). Windows 98/Me are older operating systems, and therefore inherently more vulnerable to attacks than newer operating systems. Now that Microsoft will no longer provide security updates to this operating system it will become increasingly prone to security vulnerabilities. Accordingly, Check Point will cease to support Windows 98/98SE/Me with the introduction of our version 6.5 ZoneAlarm family of products including ZoneAlarm® Internet Security Suite, ZoneAlarm® Pro, ZoneAlarm® Antivirus, ZoneAlarm® Anti-Spyware, and ZoneAlarm®. Note about pre-6.5 products: Pre-6.5 products will continue to run on the Windows 98/98SE/Me operating system. However, there are a few new and advanced protection features in ZoneAlarm products that will not run due to technical limitations of this operating system. ZoneAlarm strongly recommends upgrading to a supported and current version of the Windows operating system. ZoneAlarm may end services to pre-6.5 products at any time.

* - Windows 95 is no longer supported

FAQ for ZoneAlarm End-of-Life Policy

Why does ZoneAlarm have a policy to end support for operating systems?

This policy is in place for several reasons:

Older operating systems, even when still supported by the creating company, often have technical limitations that make it impossible to properly protect our customers using new and advanced ZoneAlarm technology.
When the creating company stops fixing the new "holes" discovered by hackers in its operating system, customers are much more vulnerable to attack.
ZoneAlarm strongly encourages its customers to adhere to a "best practices" approach to security, where each best practice that's upheld makes the customer much less likely to fall victim to attack; and every best practice ignored makes the customer much more vulnerable. Keeping software, including the operating system, up-to-date with the latest security patches is an essential best practice.

What if I have a current update/support subscription for a ZoneAlarm product when you end support for my operating system?

If you purchased a product or product service extension during the period when your operating system was listed under the ZoneAlarm end-of-life section; and that policy was posted online; and support for your operating system was not listed in the system requirements section; a refund will not be provided for your purchase, however we highly encourage you to upgrade your operating system to a safe, supported system and continue to use your current ZoneAlarm product.