ZoneAlarm has been around for years, and is still one of the most popular Windows firewall programs around (about 1.6 million CNET downloads to date).

As reported on gHacks, Checkpoint will be giving away the 2009 Pro version tomorrow - complete with one year of updates. We're not sure about the exact URL for the promotion, but gHacks thinks it will probably be associated with this address.

ZoneAlarm Pro adds anti-spyware protection to ZoneAlarm's firewall product. Pair that with your favorite antivirus program, and you have a full security suite!

The latest version of the ZoneAlarm family has received good reviews. CNET Australia reviewed ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2009 and said, "ZoneAlarm Internet Security 2009 provides top-notch fundamental security protection that is light on system resources, allowing you to work unencumbered." It's also a perennial favorite of PC World, winning Editor's Choice awards four years in a row.

If you're not a fan of ZoneAlarm, you may want to check out Comodo's latest offering.

We'll see if the Checkpoint servers can cope with the increased demand. I'm sure we all remember what happened with the Codeweavers giveaway last month.

Update: at 6am Pacific, this page will be changed to offer the free Pro version.

Update: It's 6am Pacific, and still no link. The traffic has started. As I expected, their servers weren't able to handle the influx and there's a "we're sorry!" message up now.

Update: It's Live! Go and get it!

There are things you definitely don't want to get after their expiration date. Milk, egg, and bread come to mind. But then there are Power Bars and other processed foods that taste exactly the same years after their expiration date has come and gone. Not that we'd know.

It turns out you can get a free copy of Paragon Hard Disk Manager that's a little past its prime as well. Although the free offer was supposed to expire in April, if you visit the Paragon site to register your product and download your software from Computer Active, you can get a fully licensed copy of this Windows application which would normally set you back around $50.

Paragon has a couple of useful features. First, you can use the software to create, delete, or resize partitions on your hard drive. But you can also use it to create or restore images of your entire disk or copy the entire hard drive to another disk. Here are a few more features:

• Merge partitions
• Redistribute free space
• Schedule backups
• Differential backups
• Copy partitions
• Explore disc images

This offer could expire at any time. There are also plenty of free disk partitioning apps out there, but few have has many features or are as easy to use as Paragon's software. But if all you need is a simple partitioning tool, you might want to check out Parted Magic, which can be run from a LiveCD or a USB flash drive.

[via gHacks]

After successfully releasing the last Nine Inch Nails album in 100% digital format with a variety of pricing levels ranging from free to $300, Trent Reznor has decided to go all out and give away the band's new album, "The Slip" for free. You can download all ten tracks in a variety of DRM-free formats, including MP3, FLAC, M4A lossless, and even 24/96 WAV.

This latest move proves one of two things:

1. It's possible to give away your music for free and make money by touring, and asking fans to pay for premium content.
2. Trent Reznor has made so much money from music that he can affort to give away his songs for free.

While we'd really like to think that numbe one is true, there's no doubt that the second option is absolutely true. In other words, this is hardly a business model that's going to work for most struggling musicians. But it's encouraging to see the direction that some popular artists are taking when they're freed from the shackles of the major record labels.