XP Firewall

  • Thread starter Thread starter Matt
  • Start date Start date
M

Matt

I have just started XP Home and I am wondering if the
firewall on XP is a good choice or if getting a third
party firewall (ZoneAlarm) is recommended?

Thank you.
Matt
 
If you have an always on connection, like cable, I understand that a 3rd
party software is better and ZoneAlarm is one of the better ones.
Carol
 
The built in XP firewall (ICF) protects your computer as well as any third
party firewall. However it is a pretty basic firewall without many
configuration options. If you are looking for more features then a 3rd party
firewall is the way to go, but if you just want to protect your computer and
not have to mess with any configuration ICF (the XP firewall) shold do the
trick.

--

Thanks,
Marc Reynolds
Microsoft Technical Support

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
What if you have an 802.11b network, XP firewall blocks your own computers
from using file and printer sharing.
Carol
 
Keppy said:
What if you have an 802.11b network, XP firewall blocks your own
computers from using file and printer sharing.
Click to expand...

Only if you tell it to... I have since moved to a proper broadband router
but i used to run my cable connection through internet connection sharing on
my XP desktop and share it out wirelessly with laptops which also used file
sharing, no problem, and the internet connection was protected with the XP
firewall.
 
Greetings --

WinXP's built-in firewall is fine at stopping incoming attacks, and
hiding your ports from probes. It doesn't give you any alarms to tell
you that it is working, though. What WinXP's firewall also does not
do, is protect you from any Trojans or spyware that you might download
and install inadvertently. It doesn't monitor out-going traffic at
all, much less block (or at least ask you about) the bad or the
questionable out-going packets. It "assumes" that any applications
sending out-going data are doing what _you_ want them to do.

ZoneAlarm, Kerio, or Sygate are all much better, and are much more
easily configured, and there are a free versions of each readily
available. Even Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall is superior,
although it does take a heavier toll of performance then do ZoneAlarm,
Kerio, 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
 
diane said:
do I have a fire wall
Click to expand...

If you have XP, you have a firewall built into it. As to whether or not its
turned on:

go to start, Control Panel, Network and Internet Connections, Network
Connections, right-click on the icon associated with the name of your
internet connect, and choose properties.

Then click on the advanced tab. The firewall options should now be visible.
 
What WinXP's firewall also does not do, is protect you from any Trojans or
spyware that you might download
and install inadvertently.
Click to expand...

Doesn't AV software catch these items before you run them? All the outbound
protection hype is just that ...hype.
According to Symantec Norton Antivirus 2004 catches trojans, spyware,
etc....
---------------
From Symantec site...
http://www.symantec.com/nav/nav_9xnt/features.html

NEW! Expanded threat detection alerts you to certain non-virus threats such
as spyware and keystroke logging programs.

Automatically removes viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.
 
Greetings --

Nonsense. There's no hype involved; it's simple common sense.
(Is that an oxymoron, btw?)

Good firewall and antivirus applications do nothing to protect the
user from him/herself. Almost all spyware and many Trojans and worms
are downloaded and installed deliberately (albeit unknowingly) by the
user. Antivirus software is only as good as its latest definitions
file, which will always lag a little behind the development of new
threats. Further, spyware/adware isn't detected by antivirus software
at all, because the programs aren't viruses, they were downloaded and
installed willingly by the inattentive or uninformed user. So a
firewall that can detect unauthorized out-going traffic is essential
for privacy and security.


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
 
spyware that you might download

Doesn't AV software catch these items before you run them? All the
outbound protection hype is just that ...hype.
According to Symantec Norton Antivirus 2004 catches trojans, spyware,
etc....
---------------
From Symantec site...
http://www.symantec.com/nav/nav_9xnt/features.html

NEW! Expanded threat detection alerts you to certain non-virus threats
such as spyware and keystroke logging programs.

Automatically removes viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.
------------

So....if NAV 2004 detects trojans, worms, etc and removes them..how
can they there be any "bad outgoing packets" originating from trojans
that never got a chance to run on your machine and have since been
deleted or quaranteened?
Click to expand...

No A/V software is going to catch every virus and trojan. There are
new ones being made everyday and it takes time for the A/V vendors to
update the Def files. Nor do they stop cookies that report back a
website.

--

David

Programmers write "Help Files" for a reason. use them.

"Due to Viewer dicretion...
Graphic violence is advised"

http://www.HeroicStories.com/
http://www.thisistrue.com/
 
Mine is the Broadband Connection on MS Wireless Base Station and I have no
option to firewall it, except in the broadband utility.
Carol
 
Keppy said:
Mine is the Broadband Connection on MS Wireless Base Station and I
have no option to firewall it, except in the broadband utility.
Carol
Click to expand...

If you mean that you connect to the internet via a wireless router (e.g. all
your computers connect to each other through this base station, and the base
station connects to the internet on the behalf of all your machines), then
your firewall functionality will be provided to some extent by the router.
As to how good it is, I don't know, as that product isn't sold in the UK and
I don't know anything about it.
 
C said:
Doesn't AV software catch these items before you run them? All the
outbound protection hype is just that ...hype.
According to Symantec Norton Antivirus 2004 catches trojans, spyware,
Click to expand...

I wouldn't trust symantec to catch as much as a cold in the middle of a
level 4 hot zone.
 
----- Matt wrote: -----

I have just started XP Home and I am wondering if the
firewall on XP is a good choice or if getting a third
party firewall (ZoneAlarm) is recommended?

Thank you.
Matt


I use Zone Alarm too, use both, you can never have enough security....
 
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