Two things.
1. Norton can be a pig to remove, ensure you have it all removed. A link worth looking at, which is a program removal tool that can remove the remnants of a number of different Norton Programs:
Removing your Norton program using SymNRT
2. What version of ZA do you have, Free or Pro ?
Care needs to be exercised as the free version comes with the pro trial and unless you opt for the free only, you end up with pro privacy functionality and that can throw up its own issues.
Did you get a compatibility pop-up relating to Zone Alarm and the web shield, if so what did you answer ?
High David, and thanks for the note.
1. I'll still run the registry cleaner to flush out all the Norton hidden connections. Smart move.
2. Zone Alarm Free, which I ensured to choose FREE when it presented the Wizard asking which I would want.
3. I've used ZA for over 7 years now, so realize if I select to NOT allow access to a program, it cannot connect. When the problem started, I even went back into ZA, removed all programs, and started from scratch to see if maybe accidentally I had not allowed access.
It has something to do with Avast's interaction with that auto-tuning as previously when the problem would occur, I would turn off Avast, wait for the messages to come up what had just been turned off (e.g. Stopping Provider "Web Shield," etc), and immediately I would have access again.
There is nothing else I am adjusting that would relate to ZA, former install of Norton AV, or not being connected to the internet. All my other XP-based systems can connect NO PROBLEM, yet my Vista desktop locks up periodically.