I finally installed the freeware version yesterday.
I can't say whether it works well or not. I use it with Trillian, but haven't really chated since. In any case, it seems to be running fine, and hasn't bugged or crashed or anything.
But I just thought I'd warn you about something.
At some point during the setup routine there is an option, enabled by default, to send somekind of publicity for ZoneLabs to the adresses on your contact lists.
I disabled it. But someone to whom I recommanded trying the software (because he had trouble with bugs he kept collecting on IRC), replied to me on a forum how IMsecure was just a piece of spyware, and how it had sent something like 20 messages to one of his friends in 1 hour...
He also said AdAware "hadn't liked it". (I should run it to see if it does identify it with spyware.)
I answered him that the option was clear and plain in the setup, and not burried in the contract agreement or anything. So maybe he should read before clicking those "ok" buttons.
And I think that's still very different from, say, RealPlayer's tactics of enbling all sorts of communications without warning the end user.
In any case, I thought I'd warn you all about that feature.
I do wonder why ZoneLabs decided to get itself publicity this way. At least, I'd prefer if they didn't enable the feature by default.
But I have a hard time thinking of them as spyware. -I've been using ZoneAlarm for 2 years, completely for free. And I can only thank them for that.