VMI said:
I have ZoneAlarm Pro firewall and I've been trying to enable the
Windows firewall but when I reboot it seems to turn itself off. Could
it be that you can't have two firewall enabled? I just thought that
maybe two firewalls was better than one.
Although you *can* have two software firewalls running, it's not a good
idea. You achieve no extra protection, you incur the extra overhead of
running two firewalls, and you run the risk (probably small, but not zero)
of conflicts between them.
See
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/firewall.mspx which
includes the following:
"Q. Should I use both the built-in firewall and a software firewall from a
different company on my Windows XP computer?
"A. No. Running multiple software firewalls is unnecessary for typical home
computers, home networking, and small-business networking scenarios. Using
two firewalls on the same connection could cause issues with connectivity to
the Internet or other unexpected behavior. One firewall, whether it is the
Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall or a different software firewall,
can provide substantial protection for your computer."
Also note that if you update your third-party firewall to a new version, the
update routine will probably turn it off first. If the Windows firewall
isn't running, you will temporarily be left with no running firewall, which
is very dangerous. So turn on the Windows firewall temporarily before doing
maintenance on your third-party firewall.
The Windows firewall monitors incoming traffic only. Almost any third-party
firewall will also monitor outbound traffic, stopping rogue programs trying
to call home, and is a better choice.
