why does this happen? My config is the same, only some drivers have been loaded or upgraded and now the ZA takes a minute or two to start up, when previously it went off in a whizz. Time for a new firewall, perhaps (I seriosuly hope not)?

Which version of ZA?

The latest free version, 3.1.395

Argh. I've had bad luck with that version, and reverted back to 2.6.362 on my lan. If you want 2.6.362 and can't find it, either post here or email me and I can post the freeware version on my site.

Here's 2.6.362, if you want it:

http://webpages.charter.net/adamvjackson/zonalm26zla.exe

Thanks again, pardner. Though, I managed to find it mysefl, too. Things definitely run faster now when switched back to the previous version. I'm beginning to think it's time to switch to another firewall anyway- someone here said that he had cracked ZA several times, so it makes you think, doesn't it. Any idea whether the paid version is any better and more stable, or is it really time to reconsider for using ZA?

If you want to ditch ZA I've heard good thing about

Outpost Personal Firewall: http://www.agnitum.com/

and

Tiny Personal Firewall: http://www.agnitum.com/

but haven't used either of them because on 56k a firewall is arguably unnecessary and if I were to erect a firewall it's be based around iptables scripts since my Gateway runs Linux.