birka1,
There may be another factor which causes the problem you have dealt with.
When I used ZoneAlarm Pro 5.5, my ZA configuration lost every time when I
rebooted my computer. When I asked help on Zone Labs forum, they only provided
useless advise. So, I looked for the source of the problem by myself. Later, I knew
that ZoneAlarm cannot save settings during shutdown if you install software which
enables faster shutdown or you just manually enable it through regedit.
Anyway, it may not help resolve your problem if you have not installed any kind of
software like this or did not use other ways to enable fast shutdown.
I also suggest you to switch to other firewall products like Kerio or Sygate if you
cannot resolve the problem. I am using Kerio and I think it is very easy to configure
and stable too.