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[Ton]

I have (free) ZoneAlarm installed on my htpc and it strikes me that after each update of MC18, I get a pop-up window of ZoneAlarm 3 or 4 times where I have to allow MC18. Is that normal and than I mean particularly that this has to be done 3 or 4 times ?

[Neco]

It could be the way Zone Alarm is setup to create rules and such.   It may be seeing the different EXE files between versions as new because of change file size or some other such data point, even though the executable name hasn't changed.

Does the pop-up give any specific details?   i.e   Sometimes when programs update themselves,  I get a pop-up warning from ESET Smart Security about an program modifying itself, and whether I want to allow that.

[glynor]

Zone Alarm has always been "chatty" and annoying, especially their free edition.  I lost all respect for Check Point (the makers of ZoneAlarm) when they started pulling crap like this:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/20/zonealarm_scareware_flap/

That's not the behavior of a software company I want to trust with my system's security.  They've backed down somewhat from that terrible idea, but they clearly still view their free edition as an advertising vehicle, and every time it pops up a message at you, they call that an "ad" (and it is a good thing in their view).

So, sorry, if you want to stick with them, I can't be much help.  But, that is almost certainly their weirdness, and you're unlikely to get much help from them.

Microsoft's Security Essentials is free and not annoying, and Windows 7 comes with a fairly competent built-in software firewall.  That, plus a decent NAT router, and good behavior (keep your crap updated when it asks you, and don't put it off, basically), and you don't need much else.  If you'd rather have a third-party tool, ESET has always been well respected, but I'd look for something paid.

If it is free and commercial, there is a cost.

[Ton]

Thanks for the replies.
With the latest MC18 update, I payed attention to the various pop-ups and this time there were 3:

1) Install Wizard Completion
2) MC18 is trying to connect to internet
3) Trying to launch madVR (when "installing required components".

So it seems to be o.k.
But I think I will uninstall ZA and stick with Windows Firewall as glynor suggested.

[nickeaston]

I try ZA every year or two, but it still wants to inspect every (internal) read/write operation between drives, slowing down my processing too much.  Since I process several thousand tunes daily (for duping and tag correction) I don't need an A/V suite doing that...

[6233638]

I like Windows 7 Firewall Control which is a bit of a misnomer as it actually works on everything from XP to 8.
It uses the system firewall, but gives you discrete control over it similar to what most commercial packages do. Very lightweight and unobtrusive.