Changed Program alert

Changed Program alerts warn you that a program that has asked for access permission or server permission before has changed somehow. If you click Allow, the changed program is allowed access. If you click Deny, the program is denied access.

Why these alerts occur

Changed Program alerts can occur if you have updated a program since the last time it accessed the Internet. However, they can also occur if a hacker has somehow managed to tamper with the program.

Remember, some programs are configured to access the Internet regularly to look for available updates. Consult the documentation for your programs, or refer to the support Web sites of their vendors, to find out if they have automatic update functionality.

What you should do

To determine how to respond to a Changed Program alert, consider these questions:

Did you (or, if you're in a business environment, your systems administrator) recently upgrade the program that is asking for permission?
Does it make sense for the program to need permission?

If you can answer "yes" to both questions, it's probably safe to click Allow.

If you're not sure, it's safest to click Deny. You can always grant permission later by going to the Programs panel. See Setting permissions for specific programs .

How to see fewer of these alerts

Changed Program alerts are always displayed because they require a Allow or Deny response from you. If you are using a program whose checksum changes frequently, you can avoid seeing numerous alerts by having ZoneAlarm security software check the program's file name only. Adding a program to the programs list .