The way I use the lock in Zone Alarm is to put it on when I plan to be away from the computer for several hours but don't wish to shut down. Yes, I do lose my connection. I suppose if I really wanted the Internet connection immediately when I came back, I could reboot. But I have found that all I really need to do is take the lock off, then do something else at my desk for a few minutes. Heck, I often just play a quick game of Free Cell. And in that time my ISP has found me again and I've got my cable connection back. It may vary with the ISP, though, but you might want to try it and see how long it actually does take.