desktop icon & ZA firewall with SP2

[Howard Duck]

First, how do I get the desktop icon into the quick launch on the taskbar?

Second, SP2 is up and working now, but I thought it had a firewall
protection built in. Do I still need a firewall like Zone Alarm to keep
unwanted stuff from coming in and going out? My several spyware remover
programs find stuff all the time now that ZA is no longer installed.

 

[Alex Nichol]

First, how do I get the desktop icon into the quick launch on the taskbar?

Second, SP2 is up and working now, but I thought it had a firewall
protection built in. Do I still need a firewall like Zone Alarm to keep
unwanted stuff from coming in and going out? My several spyware remover
programs find stuff all the time now that ZA is no longer installed.

If you install ZA it puts its icon in the 'tray' (not Quick Launch) as
it starts up. I would use it (and do) for the extra protection on
outgoing messages, and the easier control. You will find it then turns
the Windows one off - that is OK

 

[Ken Blake]

In

First, how do I get the desktop icon into the quick launch on
the
taskbar?

Create a text file in Notepad as follows:

[Shell]

Command=2

IconFile=explorer.exe,3

[Taskbar]

Command=ToggleDesktop



Save it as Show Desktop.scf then drag it to the Quick launch bar.



Or just click on this link:

Restore/Add Show Desktop to Quick Launch (Line 61)

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Also note that you can do this with a keyboard shortcut: the
combination of the Windows key + D or the Windows key + M.

Second, SP2 is up and working now, but I thought it had a
firewall
protection built in.

It does. There was also a built-in firewall before SP2.

Do I still need a firewall like Zone Alarm to
keep unwanted stuff from coming in and going out?

The XP firewall (with or without SP2) monitors incoming traffic,
but does nothing to stop spyware programs trying to call home. It
also is much less configurable than other choices (although it's
much improved in SP2).

For those reasons I recommend the free version of ZoneAlarm (or
almost any third-party firewall) instead.



By the way, when you have two unrelated questions like these,
it's normally best to ask them in separate threads.