XP Pro Firewall vs. Zone Alarm

[Andrea]

I'm going to install Windows XP Pro (or Home--haven't decided yet) on a
computer that was using Win 98SE. I've been using Zone Alarm with Win98, as
well as a Linksys router as a hardware firewall. With XP, would it be
preferable to use the XP firewall instead of Zone Alarm OR disable the
built-in firewall and just use Zone Alarm and Linksys OR use the XP firewall
AND Zone Alarm. Hope that was clear. I'm finding this confusing.

Andrea

 

[E McCann]

ZoneAlarm's firewall is much better than XP's. XP has one for basic (very
basic) security, and IIRC doesn't block anything going *out* of your
system - so if you manage to get a trojan through an email or infected
download, it can "call home" all it likes and you'll never know.

Zonealarm also gives you a better idea of what's going on with your
connection.

While having a hardware firewall is nice, I'd at least keep Zonealarm as a
backup. If you put ZA in, disable the XP firewall.

 

[Mad Max]

Andrea:
Go with the Zone alarm(free version). I use it as well as a Linsky's hard
wired router. There are some other things you should also add, such as
Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware, just for starters.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I'm going to install Windows XP Pro (or Home--haven't decided yet) on a
computer that was using Win 98SE. I've been using Zone Alarm with Win98, as
well as a Linksys router as a hardware firewall. With XP, would it be
preferable to use the XP firewall instead of Zone Alarm OR disable the
built-in firewall and just use Zone Alarm and Linksys OR use the XP firewall
AND Zone Alarm.

I would make sure the inbuilt one was in place before *ever* connecting
to the Internet. Then in due course install ZA, and once that is in use
the inbuilt one is only doing part of the job, twice over, so it might
as well be disabled

 

[Andrea]

Is anyone able to answer this? Thanks in advance.

 

[Malke]

Is anyone able to answer this? Thanks in advance.

No, it is better to only use 1 firewall and ZoneAlarm is better than the
firewall built into XP.

Have some patience, please. This isn't Microsoft tech support.

Malke

 

[Andrea]

Thank you for the answer, and I apologize for appearing impatient. It seemed
to me that most of the posts from 3/2 and 3/3 had been answered, and many
from today. I assumed that my 3/2 post wasn't answered at first for whatever
reason and then people were naturally attending to the more recent ones. I
do know that this isn't Microsoft tech support.

 

[CZ]

No, it is better to only use 1 firewall.

Malke:

Not necessarily.

If two firewalls do not cause problems when running together, then you can
get the benefit of the different firewall technologies of each.

ZA is merely an application gate for outbound control, which is actually a
limited control technology overall. BlackICE is a monitoring firewall that
can perform control functions long after ZA has stopped.

Running ZA and BID together provides much more security than running ZA
alone.

BTW, I have been running them for several years.

 

[Malke]

Malke:

Not necessarily.

If two firewalls do not cause problems when running together, then you
can get the benefit of the different firewall technologies of each.

ZA is merely an application gate for outbound control, which is
actually a
limited control technology overall. BlackICE is a monitoring firewall
that can perform control functions long after ZA has stopped.

Running ZA and BID together provides much more security than running
ZA alone.

BTW, I have been running them for several years.

Thanks for your input, CZ. I have to say that I respectfully disagree
with you on this issue, and I think you've been lucky. I still
recommend only running one firewall, and my choice wouldn't be
BlackICE. I'm glad the combo works for you, but I wouldn't suggest it.

Cheers,

Malke

 

[CZ]

Malke:

Not necessarily.

If two firewalls do not cause problems when running together, then you
can get the benefit of the different firewall technologies of each.

ZA is merely an application gate for outbound control, which is
actually a
limited control technology overall. BlackICE is a monitoring firewall
that can perform control functions long after ZA has stopped.

Running ZA and BID together provides much more security than running
ZA alone.

BTW, I have been running them for several years.

Malke wrote:
Thanks for your input, CZ. I have to say that I respectfully disagree
with you on this issue, and I think you've been lucky. I still
recommend only running one firewall, and my choice wouldn't be
BlackICE. I'm glad the combo works for you, but I wouldn't suggest it.


Malke:
I have done it on Win98SE, Win2k PRO, XP Pro, XP Home w/o any problems for
several years, so I do not think luck is involved.
IMO opinion it is impt to pick one non-monitoring and one monitoring.
ZA free is non-monitoring, and BID is monitoring.

ZA free (as an application gate) is like the lock on your car door, and BID
is like your car alarm.
Once a thief opens the car door, ZA is useless. However, BID is always
monitoring.

For more in-depth threads on firewalls, I recommend alt.computer.security
and comp.security.firewalls.
Some of the firewall threads in this NG have been rather light.

BTW, have you had problems using two together?

 

[Andrea]

Are you asking me about using two firewalls or Malke? If you're asking me, I
haven't used any firewall except ZA free (and the Linksys router
firewall).This is with Win98SE. I haven't installed Windows XP yet, and I
wanted to clarify the firewall issue before I do.