Win XP Firewall or free Zone Alarm

[Walter R.]

I am running Win XP SP2. Which one is better, the Windows Firewall (inbound
only), or the free Zone Alarm firewall (inbound and outbound but bare-bones
functionality).

Thanks

 

[R. McCarty]

ZA free - more functionality, not too hard to train. Needs a few
setting changes involving other Security monitoring & logging.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

I am running Win XP SP2. Which one is better, the Windows Firewall (inbound
only), or the free Zone Alarm firewall (inbound and outbound but bare-bones
functionality).

Thanks

By far, any other firewall than the one in Windows XP Sp2 is better. ZA Free
is "not bad", once you start "training" it to allow which programs have access
thru it. A better set up is to also have a broadband Internet router which
normally has NAT.

 

[Ryan Dick]

Just be aware though that NAT is not a firewall - a lot of people rely on
NAT as a method of protection. Yes it does help, but it does not prevent
network hacking attempts

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am running Win XP SP2. Which one is better, the Windows Firewall
(inbound only), or the free Zone Alarm firewall (inbound and outbound
but bare-bones functionality).

ZA. I wouldn't call it "bare-bones functionality." It has at least as much
as the Windows firewall.

In fact, although the Windows firewall is OK and better than nothing, almost
any third-party product is a better choice.