[ken21]

thanks.

you're right, that's a lot to digest; i'm working on it.

my isp suggested that my zone alarm conflicted with their system and to take it off, also, an ad blocker.

my computer does run better.

also, i notice that firefox blocks some pop ups.

[airedale]

You absolutely need a firewall!!!! Zone Alarm Pro works very well. I've used it for years. The idea that it conflicts with their ISP is ridiculous. Without a firewall you're like a house in a bad neighborhood with open windows and doors with signs outside saying come on in it's open take what you want. And the bad guys will flock to your place and install all kinds of bad stuff (key logers, keysnatches, trojans and stuff to use your machine in DDOS attacks. Zone Alarm and all good firewalls not only lock the windows and doors to prevent access from the outside but lock them so that you have to allow access to the outside. All you've really done by stomping Zone Alarm is opened a superhighway for the bad guys to use your system. They were being slowed down trying to find ways around your firewall. That takes resources and processor time. With it down they no longer have to work that hard and therefore resources and processor time are freed up and your system works faster.

IF it really did conflict with the ISP's system then I'd say get a new ISP. But it doesn't you got bum advice. Ad Blockers don't integer with their system either. They can slow things down if they use a proxy server arrangement to filter the latest ads (Ad Subtract Pro handles it that way). It can also stop some sights from loading since it's a requirement to accept a cookie or see the pop-up before it will load, but that has nothing to do with the ISP.