kpf, on public hot spots, you have to conform to whatever security is already set up on their access point. Most likely no more than WEP, if that. (WEP stands for 'Wire Equivalency Protocol', rather misnamed.) You have more control over things at home, of course.
If you are using your PC to connect to a company network from a hot spot then you will likely be given a VPN client which will enforce a much higher level of security for the connection. The hot spot doesn't know or care about the VPN tunnel, that is the great thing about this approach.
Zonealarm - I haven't used it myself. Most of these personal firewalls are good for blocking casual intrusions, but don't work well for serious company networks which can be the target of sophisticated hacking. I see that Check Point is purchasing Zonealarm, and Check Point is the standard for protecting internet access. That does speak positively for them, because Check Point is not about to put their reputation in danger by selling a compromised product.
With any firewall, it is as good as the policy that you set up. Probably it comes up with default rules that take care of most situations. You should spend some time properly understanding how to configure it for your needs.
If you are connecting to a home network from a hot spot then you can probably set up your own VPN tunnel using Zonealarm. That would set up an encrypted connection between your home computer (acting as the server) and your WIFI client.
(By the way - this isn't really an 'OT' topic. Technical discussions about how to use your AMD PC on a network are properly on-topic.)
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