Using the Internet Lock and Stop button

Use the Stop button to instantly "shut the doors" to your computer if you think your under attack. Use the Internet Lock for extra protection when you leave your computer unattended for a time.

Note that using either the Lock or Stop button can prevent your programs from accessing the Internet, and block DHCP messages or ISP heartbeats used to maintain your Internet connection. As a result, you may lose your connection when either Lock or Stop are engaged.

What's the difference between 'Stop' and 'Lock'?

The Stop button stops ALL traffic to and from your computer--no exceptions!
The Internet Lock stops all traffic to and from your computer, except traffic initiated by programs to which you have given pass-lock permission.

Tip In the Programs tab, a lock icon indicates that the program has pass-lock permission. Click the icon to remove permission.

Turning the lock on and off

There are two ways to manually activate or deactivate the Internet Lock and Stop functions:

Click the Stop button or the Lock icon on the dashboard at the top of the Control Center.
Right-click the ZoneAlarm Pro system tray icon, then select from the shortcut menu.

In addition, the Internet Lock can be activated automatically.

How do I know the lock is on?

If the Stop button has been clicked, you'll see a red lock icon in the system tray. You may also begin to see a lot of alerts.
If the Internet Lock has been clicked, you'll see a yellow lock icon.

To turn either function off, just click the icon again.

Using the Automatic Internet Lock

The Automatic Internet Lock protects your computer if you leave it connected to the Internet for long periods even when you're not actively using network or Internet resources.

You can set the automatic lock to engage:

When your screen saver engages, or
After a specified number of minutes of network inactivity.

You can turn the automatic lock on or off in the Programs panel. For more information about customizing automatic lock settings, see the related topic Auto-Lock tab.

Glossary

pass-lock
When the Internet Lock is engaged, programs given pass-lock permission can continue accessing the Internet. Access permission and server permission for all other programs is revoked until the lock is opened.