I work as an IT Security Consultant and although my views on zonealarm are not at strong as some . . For the average person I would agree that if you want a trouble free experience avoid zone alarm. Especially when you have a LAN configuration set up at home/office. Although I would say (in my opinion)
it is far better than the flakey windows firewall . . we avoid that like the plague.
Although there is certainly mixed opinions on Symantec security products, I have always found that they work very effectively, and have used the security suite (firewall/virus software) usually available from PC world for £25 as each new version is released (cheaper than the annual subscription and 'usually' a better product)
For home usage, many people now use broadband services, so in many cases as long as your PC is powered on, you are connected to the internet. I would strongly suggest that anyone using their internet connection should out themselves behind a router with NAT and a firewall
but at the end of the day . . it really comes down to common sense when using your computer. It may seem a bit harsh, but the view I take is if someone doesn't understand the basics of computer security then they have no one to blame but themselves when things go wrong. These products will help, but are useless if the user does not understand the implications of what he/she is doing i.e. opening attachments from unknown sources.
There is no security patch for stupidity
check out the link below for a web site that test the security of your computer/network. If you are not passing all tests with flying colours you need to work on your security settings. If you are able to cloak your systems from being easily seen on the internet, you are going in the right direction.
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Mine, like many others, is anything from Symantec (except Ghost) 
