Why can't I stop ZoneAlarm from automatically updating?

Question

Whenever I log into my Windows XP administrator account, ZoneAlarm, which starts at startup, immediately starts updating automatically. There is no way for me to stop it. I've already tried ending the program/process with Windows Task Manager, and manually shutting down ZoneAlarm. The only thing I can do is wait until it's done, which is strange because it doesn't seem like it has done anything at all. It uses up about 100% of my processor power while it updates, bogging down my computer speed, which is obviously very irritating. If anyone out there can give me some information, possibly on how to make it stop updating, I would be very grateful.

Thanks, Nik.

Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 2 (5.1 - 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2.39 GHz, 640MB RAM
ZoneAlarm FREE version
ZoneAlarm version:6.5.737.000
TrueVector version:6.5.737.000
Driver version:6.5.737.000

LCgirl: That's the problem. I've already set it to manual update, but it still updates itself. And it's not that it checks for updates automatically, but it actually UPDATES itself. When I hover my mouse over the tray icon, it says, "ZoneAlarm is updating.", and when I try to exit out, it tells me to turn off all systems first or whatnot.

And bakagaijinmaster, if I were to buy another firewall instead of using ZoneAlarm for free, why would I ask this question in the first place? I'm asking for advice on how to fix this thing, and I'd appreciate it if you'd do just that instead of telling me something else other than how to fix it.

Thank you all for the help so far though, at least you guys are taking your time to help.

-Nik

Answer 1

double click on zone alarm icon and do this:

Select Overview|Preferences.
In the Check for Updates area, choose Manually.

Answer 2

Buy a router more power then some software firewall,dlink 604 router best

Answer 3

just ditch it and buy something you can get a decent program for around 30$ why wast time with something free if you dont like how it works?