more than 1 firewall and/or antivirus

[Guest]

are there any advantages/disadvantages to running more than 1 firewall and/or
antivirus on you XP at the same time. I know that a lot of serious computer
users will have several (often 4 or more) anti spyware programs on their
machine at once, but i've heard that you shouldn't run more than 1 antivirus
and/or firewall.

Also, as an aside, how good is Microsoft's firewall? I've heard their
antispyware program is a sieve.

 

[Americantechie]

Yikes...

One good program and and common sense will do just fine. Running multiple
AV and Firewall programs sounds like a huge pain in the ***. Remember that
each of these things takes up computer resources. Also if you need to
configure an online service to pass through your router and firewalls there
is much more work if you have multiple instances.

Another important thing to keep in mind is running multiple AV programs
could be counterproductive. These programs are powerful and could possibly
conflict with each other.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

are there any advantages/disadvantages to running more than 1 firewall and/or
antivirus on you XP at the same time. I know that a lot of serious computer
users will have several (often 4 or more) anti spyware programs on their
machine at once, but i've heard that you shouldn't run more than 1 antivirus
and/or firewall.

Microsoft specifically says not to use more than one firewall, because
it can result in some programs not working correctly. There's even a
Help and Support Center topic in XP SP2 called "Why you should only
use one firewall".

I suspect that the same can be said about using more than one
antivirus program if each one has real-time monitoring.

It's fine to use multiple antispyware programs, provided that only one
of them has real-time monitoring. I commonly use Microsoft
AntiSpyware, Ad-Aware SE, and Spybot Search & Destroy on the same
computer. Only the MS one has real-time monitoring

Also, as an aside, how good is Microsoft's firewall? I've heard their
antispyware program is a sieve.

The Windows Firewall in XP SP2 is a good incoming-only firewall, and
it's the only software firewall that I use on my computers. It
doesn't block undesired outgoing traffic, which can be caused by
malicious programs that have invaded a computer.

Microsoft's anitspwyare program is the best one that I've used, even
in its current beta release. By design, it doesn't look for tracking
cookies, which other antispyware programs do. That results in the
mistaken belief that it misses a lot of spyware.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Guest]

thanks for the response. but just curious... aren't tracking cookies a bad
thing? i man, wouldn't one WANT their antispyware program to find and remove
them?

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

thanks for the response. but just curious... aren't tracking cookies a bad
thing? i man, wouldn't one WANT their antispyware program to find and remove
them?

Microsoft already provides ways to block and delete tracking cookies.

To block them in Internet Explorer 6:

1. Click Tools | Internet Options | Privacy | Advanced.
2. Click "Override automatic cookie handling".
3. Click "Block" under "Third-party Cookies".

To remove all cookies (including tracking cookies) in Internet
Explorer 5 and 6:

1. Click Tools | Internet Options | General.
2. Click "Delete Cookies".

Tracking cookies are text files, not executables, and they can't do
anything to your computer. They allow Internet advertisers to keep
track of sites you've visited that use the advertiser's services.
Here's what Lavasoft (Ad-Aware) says about them:

http://www.lavasoftnews.com/ms/display_main.php?tac=Tracking Cookie

There's disagreement about whether tracking cookies are a threat. I
don't remove them from my computers, but some people consider them
intolerable invasions of privacy and always remove them.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Bruce Chambers]

are there any advantages/disadvantages to running more than 1 firewall and/or
antivirus on you XP at the same time.

No. In fact, using multiple antivirus and firewall applications
simultaneously can cause problems due to software conflicts. It's not
usually a problem to have multiple antivirus and firewall applications
installed, but only one of each should be active at any given time.


I know that a lot of serious computer

users will have several (often 4 or more) anti spyware programs on their
machine at once, but i've heard that you shouldn't run more than 1 antivirus
and/or firewall.

This is because most anti-spyware applications are purely
"scan-on-demand" utilities, so they're not usually operating
simultaneously. Also, it seems that no one has been able to produce a
single such product that catches everything, as they all use different
testing criteria and different malware definition files. In fact, I'm
not aware of any two anti-spyware manufacturers who even define adware
and spyware identically.

Also, as an aside, how good is Microsoft's firewall?

WinXP's built-in firewall is adequate at stopping incoming attacks,
and hiding your ports from probes. What WinXP SP2's firewall does not
do, is protect you from any Trojans or spyware that you (or someone
else using your computer) might download and install inadvertently.
It doesn't monitor out-going traffic at all, other than to check for
IP-spoofing, much less block (or at even ask you about) the bad or the
questionable out-going signals. It assumes that any application you
have on your hard drive is there because you want it there, and
therefore has your "permission" to access the Internet. Further,
because the Windows Firewall is a "stateful" firewall, it will also
assume that any incoming traffic that's a direct response to a
Trojan's or spyware's out-going signal is also authorized.

ZoneAlarm, Kerio, or Sygate are all much better than WinXP's
built-in firewall, and are much more easily configured, and there are
free versions of each readily available. Even the commercially
available Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall is superior by far,
although it does take a heavier toll of system performance then do
ZoneAlarm or Sygate.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

thanks for the response. but just curious... aren't tracking cookies a bad
thing? i man, wouldn't one WANT their antispyware program to find and remove
them?

It's not so much that tracking cookies aren't a "bad thing" as it is
that this issue is already easily addressed from within the security
settings of most browsers, so there's no real need to add the capability
to monitor them to an anti-spyware application.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH