Win 7 Firewall

[cowboy]

Hello, I'm running Win 7 64 bit.
On a Dell machine, came with Mcafee firewall.

It looks like the Win firewall is off due to the Mcafee being on ?
i.e., when I look at the firewall section under Control panel it tells me the FW is being managed by Mcafee....

Questions,
should I stick with the Mc FW (in the past I haven't heard good things about Mc)
If I decide to use the Win FW, how do I turn it on ?
(ive looked around and it appears that since the Mc FW is on it won't let me do that)
I'm guessing that I will have to uninstall the Mc and then turn on the Win FW

 

[carnageX]

Yes, only 1 firewall can be on at a time (you shouldn't run multiple firewalls at the same time even if you could enable both - it could cause stability issues).

I would recommend against using McAfee, as it's not a very good product. You can get better free antivirus as well. BitDefender Free is one of the better ones nowadays; Avira and Avast are also both good.

You can check out performance of the various AV's here: AV-Comparatives Summary-Report » AV-Comparatives

They're a 3rd party AV reviewing/testing site that aren't sponsored by any AV companies.

 

[DistraughtSysop]

Google "Mcafee Removal Tool" and use that to get rid of Mcafee and use one of the AV suites recommended by carnageX.

Enable Windows Firewall by going to Start -> Control Panel -> Windows Firewall.

 

[cowboy]

So should I use the Uninstall or the Mcfee uninstall via their website, or whatever I get via the Google query ?

Do you distinguish between a FW and AV/Spyware tools ?

Thanks

 

[carnageX]

The one from their site is fine: https://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS101331

 

[cowboy]

I plan on removing the Mcfee (just haven't heard much good about them over the yrs ...)
Is my only option for FW, Windows or are there better FW's that I could use ?

 

[carnageX]

IMO a software firewall isn't that useful, unless you're that worried about it. I used to use ZoneAlarm... and it was kind of annoying/intrusive. Then I switched to Comodo FIrewall... and then I decided I'd just try Windows Firewall... and I haven't had any issues.

If you're really worried about having a good firewall, then don't get a software FW. Get a Hardware Firewall that goes in-line between your modem / router. That would give you the best protection, because then the intrusion hasn't even touched your network before it gets blocked.

 

[cowboy]

Thanks.

this brings up a question I mentioned elsewhere, there is a difference between a FW and a
spyware/malware software tool.

Sound like I'll just go with the Win FW, for now and then look for a spyware tool, any recommendations.

 

[carnageX]

Yes, there's a difference. While they can do a few similar things, FW's are usually proactive, whereas spyware/malware removal is reactive. Or rather: firewalls are there to prevent nasties from getting in, or spreading to other systems over the network. Antispyware/malware is usually there to clean up once a system is already infected, or has already gotten through onto the system.

As for spyware tools.. I like Malwarebytes Antimalware for removal. I combine that with TDSSKiller, CCleaner, HiJackThis, and if the infection is bad, ComboFix.

 

[Joe C]

Also take note that if your using a router, it too has a hardware firewall built in. So with the combination with the windows firewall, you should be o.k.