I am using Zone alarm as my firewall. An integral; part of ZA in vs mon.exe which monitors something./ My experience is tr hat vsmon.exe takes a lot of CPU resources to the point that some program will "not respond" and even freezing the computer. I used to let ZA start up at boot up. But lately I have been starting it manually whenever I get email or go on the internet. I don't have any freezing problems or "not responding"problems if I do it this way, although it is cumbersome and I sometimes forget. Is there something wrong with ZA? Are there better firewalls that will guard against spy ware and viruses too? Any recommendation? William Lockie

there are many things wrong with zonealarm. Your problem being one of them. I usually don't reccomend, all in one internet security solutions these days, because they end up either taking over your computer, greatly hindering your internet access, causing windows to be corrupted, or just slow your computer down to a screeching halt. I don't see firewalls as such a neccessity these days as most people are behind router and the like, pluse windows xp SP2 and higher has a built in-firewall, which my be basic, but does work for the average user. For example, my computer is on for the better part of every day, and its connected to cable internet through a router, I havn't had a firewall apart from the windws one, on it for about 2 years now, and have never been hacked in that period. I use AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, Spybot S&D, and Windows Defender for virus and spyware removal. They are all free and they all work fine.

to further my point, I have been using that same combination of software on customers computers where I work for about the last 1.5 to 2 years and none of them have been hacked to my knowledge.

I am presently using DSL with a Slipstream 4100 external modem. What kind of router do you recommend? William Lockie

I found, on the internet, at Amazon, a "Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port 10/100 Switch (BEFSR41)" for $40. Is that a good deal? William Lockie

yep that one should be fine. I have soldthem to customers in the past and they have worked well. Good price too!