I’m running XP home, and tried uninstalling ZoneAlarm (it was causing problems with my connection, plus we already have a hardware firewall…), but when I restart, it keeps starting back up… How can I get rid of it forever?
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- Disable Zone Alarm
- Use msconfig to remove the programs from starting up
- Uninstall Zone Alarm
You can switch step 2 and 3. Do not reboot until you are done.
To add to Urban Ranger’s post:
Click “Start”, “Run”
Type “msconfig” (without the quotes) in the box
On the System Configuration Utility page click the tab marked “Startup” usually located at the far right.
Uncheck the file called “zlclient”.
You can also disable any other annoying programs from starting up in the first place here.
Sorry if you already knew this. 
Why does the thread title sound like a Rockford Files line spoken by the villain of the week?
“Boys, I want you to take care of this Mr. Zone Alarm problem… permanently. Muhuhahahaha!”
Zone Alram will leave some registry keys that are not removed when the uninstall program is run. I had a system crash and had to reinstall ZA, but had problems doing so until I fully removed the stray registry keys.
Aargh, thanks… why didn’t I think of msconfig?