I don't use it myself as I use a subscription based Mcaffe firewall but a lot of people I know use and swear by Zonealarm.
It has a lot of good reviews, give it a whirl and decide for yourself.
Zone Alarm is acknowledged to be the best firewall available, subscription or otherwise, bettered only by its own Pro version but even then, the few enhancements are hardly worth paying for.
Yes and yes. It just sits there in the background minding its own business.
I understand that, if you ever want to uninstall it, it can be a bit problematic to get rid of all the files but, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
However, there is help here:
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/support/za/znalmMain.j sp
i used to use zone alarm and it worked fine but on the last update it clashed with bit torrent and had to be uninstalled.
i now use sygate firewall which is just as thorough
My winmx seems to working OK. I tried downloading no problem.
I wouldn't know what a bit torrent was if it came and bit my nose. Nevertheless thanks one and all for the advice.
Will