The Vista-compatible version of the ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite is hugely disappointing. The core features of the suite remain as good as ever: the network and deep OS-level firewalls, Kaspersky-driven antivirus and antispyware, program control and SmartDefense Advisor database all providing the usual high levels of system security.

But while XP users just have to suffer missing out on the US-only advanced Identity Protection Center services, it’s worse for anyone installing on Vista. The casualties include IM security, privacy controls, ID lock, spy site blocking, ad blocking, cache cleaning, mobile code control, MailSafe protection and parental controls. While all of these are still available in the XP version 7.1, they’re missing entirely for Vista users.

According to Check Point, this was to enable the company to get the product to market in time for the Vista roll-out – a deadline it still missed by many months. And while it’s concentrated on the core features first, there’s still no ETA on what the company refers to as “peripheral security and privacy features”. While quality concerns are understandable, the fact that Vista users are expected to pay exactly the same for a vastly inferior product isn’t. And, although it’s available for free to existing subscribers, those looking to upgrade to Vista are in for a shock if they’re expecting those “peripheral features” to be there.

We should also note that upgrading to 7.1 trashed our XP test machine. All went well until the system needed to reboot, and found it couldn’t. A clean install, requiring the complete removal of the previous version, not to mention our carefully established security settings, eventually worked okay – unlike the performance of our Vista test PC, which went through the floor. Most obvious was the increase in boot time for Vista itself, up from a couple of minutes to ten minutes. Compared with Norton 360, the resource usage was also poor and apps took longer to start up.

While $70 for a suite covering up to three PCs remains good value for XP users, the same no longer holds true for those moving to Vista (especially as it doesn’t support the 64-bit version).