This is why I'm recommending this program to many of my friends. Unfortunately, most don't understand how important the registry is (and the majority of those have never even used a regedit command!).
The SIW program gives some excellent information, but what do you think could be the ramifications of the "trace" string?
What usually alarms me is when I load a program and some time later, I see my Zone Alarm icon start flashing. Then I either check the Zone Alarm program tab or top right icons to see what's active, do a netstat command or open TCPview. Usually, the program authors tell you that the program is set to check for updates and that you can configure your firewall to prevent it, but I always am suspicious of those things.