Secure your Windows PC and internet connection from hackers and malware with ZoneAlarm firewall - Tutorial 1 - Installing ZoneAlarm (updated January 2010)

Ready to install the free ZoneAlarm firewall and protect your PC from hackers? Great, first thing you need to do is download the latest version from the official download page. Click here to go directly to the download page for the free ZoneAlarm firewall. Once you have downloaded the latest version, double click on the executable file to start the installation. If you are a Vista or Windows 7 user and have User Account Control enabled you may be required to enter your administrator password and/or grant permission for the installer to continue.

After a short delay, the following window will then appear:-

Choose between Quick Installation and Custom installation on this window. Quick installation will install the firewall and also the ZoneAlarm Spy Blocker toolbar for Internet Explorer. Installing this additional component is entirely optional and it does not effect ZoneAlarm firewall itself. This toolbar can be useful, but do you really need another toolbar cluttering up your browser? For this tutorial, we will choose "Custom Installation" and opt out of the toolbar.

You can also change the directory which ZoneAlarm is installed to, by using the "Browse..." button near the bottom of the window. The default directory is right for most users however.

When you have made your decisions, click on "Next >" to move to the next window shown below:-

In this window you can optionally register your free ZoneAlarm firewall to receive news on updates or new products. We recommend you do register the product by filling out the form in this window. However, if you do not wish to register (or you have registered before) deselect the tick/check box, then click "Next >" to move on to the next window as shown below:-

Scroll down to read the licence agreement in this window and if you agree, make sure to tick/check the box labelled "I accept the terms of the preceding Licence Agreement" then click "Install". There will now be a short pause while some files are copied. During the file copy process, Windows Vista and Windows 7 users will see a window like this appear:-

Windows Vista/Windows 7 is double checking with you before it installs a new piece of system software. Click on "Install" to proceed, since we trust Check Point software (the makers of ZoneAlarm). The above window will not appear on Windows XP machines. Once this part of the installation is completed, the following window will be displayed:-

Some basic settings need to be configured for the Zone Alarm Firewall to function correctly. Fortunately, the default options are suitable for most users. Choose "Default Quick installation (recommended)" to automatically configure these settings. Advanced users can choose "Custom installation (advanced)" to set each option manually, although we do not cover this in this tutorial.

When you have made your decision, click "Next >". If you chose the quick installation option, the following window will now appear:-

You will now need to reboot your PC, click on "Restart Computer" to do so. Once the reboot is complete and you log back into Windows, the main ZoneAlarm program window will appear. You will also see the following window:-

Here ZoneAlarm has detected your internet/network connection and is asking you how it should be configured. If you are on a home or office network and you share printers and/or files with other network users, choose "Allow into Trusted Zone". If you plug your computer directly into a cable or ADSL modem and do not share your internet access with any other devices in the home, or if you are using a public Wifi connection, choose "Keep in Internet Zone".

When you have made your decision, click on "OK". You can now proceed directly to our next tutorial. The next tutorial will show you how to start using and configuring ZoneAlarm for your PC and home network.

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