Windows XP firewall

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TylerD

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Is the Windows XP firewall sufficient, should I buy one if so which one would you recommend.

Thanks in advance,

TylerD
 
The Windows XP firewall is a good start but it will only help you out so much.

In order to have a fully functional firewall, you need it to monitor both incoming and outgoing packets. The XP firewall only monitors incoming packets, which is only half of what you need. Again, its better than nothing but I'd get something like Zone Alarm. There a few free firewall programs out there that you should look intol

www.zonealarm.com
 
I figured that would be the case. I used to use the free version of ZoneAlarm on my ME machine, but I'm probably going to go for a fully fledged product. Would you recommend ZoneAlarm over, say, Norton's offering?
 
i used the windows firewall - without messin with settings
and it stopped me from seeing other computers folders on my n/w
i was still able to get the net thru a share tho
weirdness
 
Bullit you can either use a different software firewall like zonealarm and add your internal IP's to the mcafee trusted zone. otherwise you can use SPX/IPX to share your resources on the network
 
roho said:
Why not try Kerio's PF its free for home use and far better than either ZA Pro or Norton

http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_home.html

How much better is it than ZA? Over the past 3-4 years or using Zone Alarm, i've found it very user friendly and very effective. I think it comes down to personal preferences, but i find ZA to be extremely effective and nothing else beats it IMHO.
 
Point taken about user friendliness (but it works both ways ....those who want little configuration and those who want as much as possible).........but have you used anything else........and what about the True Vector problems......dont tell me you havent come across any problems with this crappy part of ZA (even Zone Labs OWN forums are full of this)?

If you do want to BUY a software firewall then I suppose that buying a router with a built in firewall is about a 1000 times more effective yet costs about the same...of course any firewall is only as good as its configured OR allowed to be configured, in the end.
 
My only problem with ZoneAlarm (the free one) is when my computer was shutdown incorrectly, when it was rebooted ZoneAlarm would NOT initialise and another reboot was required.

This was the free version of ZA run on Windows ME, has anyone else experienced this? Now that I have XP, will that eliminate the problem?
 
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