i had a problem with my dell xps 420 32bit vista,i had avast free in it an zone alarm firewall,it ran fine until i updated avast program it would boot up then i would log in an it would go to a black screen with the pointer an that was it,it took me awhile an i uninstalled zone alarm reinstalled avast now it’s fine hope this helps somebody
ZoneAlarm has been known to create/cause conflicts with avast.
Try one of these;
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Firewall/Online-Armor-Free.shtml
http://www.filehippo.com/download_outpost_firewall/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Firewall/Privatefirewall.shtml
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Firewall/Comodo-Personal-Firewall.shtml
All four have HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention Software) and are reliable.
Hi moparman. If you care too, you could use the forum ‘search’ function to review info about Zone Alarm/conflicts and possible solutions as there has been plenty of posts regarding Zone Alarm and Avast.