Vista - Vista Firewall

Until recentlyI've been a Win98SE man and had Zone Alarm Free firewall
installed. Never a problem in nearly 10 years.

Although fairly comp literate I've never really "got to grips" with the
workings of FWs.

Recently bought a new computer and the OS is Windows Vista Home Premium---64
bit.

If I choose to install Zone Alarm Free, (which I have currently), should I
turn off the integrated Vista FW?

Is there a definitive answer?

Further, ZA Free is currently installed and operational from "startup". I
often find, when I investigate, that the Vista FW has turned itself "Off".
Does this make sense?

Lastly, regardless of which FW is on, my computer "fails" the "Shields Up!"
"Ping Test". What can I do, if anything, to rectify this?

Any pertinent comments would be gratefully received.
--
GPN

Well I can answer your question about turning off the Windows Firewall if your using a third party program. Its like having 2 anti-virus programs installed, they dont cooperate very well. So, I would only leave on either the Windows firewall or the Zone Alarm firewall, choose one, either one it doesn't matter. As far as it failing a ping test, I have no idea, does this stop your internet connection?

hi
I also use Zonealarm (Pro version)
It automatically switches off the built in Windows firewall to prevent clashes.

If you turn off Zonealarm for whatever reason, Windows firewall will reappear in 'networked items' folders such as wireless card(marked "Firewalled")

That's fine, as the security center is probably configured to automatically secure the machine when you shutdown ZA. Nothing wrong here, well, as long as internet connectivity remains.