Well to be honest, the only good product ZoneLabs EVER made was
ZoneAlarm Pro, which happens to be an amazing firewall. But it has no anti-virus feature so bleh. Thats why i use ZoneAlarm Pro as a firewall and Eset Nod32 as an anti-virus. So, in this case, i would say to try and re-install your zonealarm program a couple more times and see what you come up with. If it still doesnt work for you, then i suggest turning to a different firewall of your selection, or just go with ZoneAlarm pro. Believe or not, go on some warez boards and you will find this firewall everywhere with serials etc.. So theres really no need to pay for it. Unless your the richeous type, then by all means, go and pay the $30 for it -_-. And actually, BitDefender isnt all that bad, but i dont prefer it becuase there were cases of it doing stupid jackass shit like freezing your computer and the typical, not allowing you to surf the internet because the permissions were set too high, rofl.
Another firewall you should look at is Comodo. Its free and for a free program its pretty beast.
Anyways, try some of what i said and get back to us,

Im sure other people here and the guests out there wouldnt mind knowing how your predicament turnedout.
Good Luck!