B43...
Sorry I havn't posted on this recently, but I have been monitoring other posters. This seems to be a very unusual problem which doesn't help you much.
I have done research on ZA TV not starting and cannot come up with a solution.
I still need to ask if you followed my suggestion of shutting down all non-essential programs in the Startup. I know you checked it , but then you went on to explain other things. Shutting down everything else but ZA and TV, Systray and Explore (if installed) is the only way we can tell if a conflict exists with another program, or if another program is interferring with one of the sub routines needed by ZA uses to start True Vector.
Try running a Disk Scan and Disk Defrag just in case some error exists that has not shown itself elsewhere.
If all else fails, I would ask you to look into Sygate Personal Firewall.
It is very easy to set up, and has the versitility of being both an Application and Rule based firewall.
or, Kerio has been recommended by other users on the forum although I did not care for it myself. Tiny PFW is also an excellent program but the learning curve is high. Agnitum's Outpost has gotten mixed reviews from users.
techie