windows firewall

[jean88]

I am just using my windows firewall on my PC, would I need another firewall e.g. zonealarm?

Thanks

[Personica]

I would recommend another. Windows XP security features are about as serious as jo brand!

I've heard Zonealarm is OK. I use McAfee which is free to AOL users.

Be sure to use your spyware and antivirus software on a regular basis too!

[stevie21]

You could probably get away with using Windows' one but just to be safer I'd recommend one of the other freebies.
I'm not entirely convinced of the merits of Zonealarm's free offering (although it's better than nothing!).

There are others out there such as Sygate:
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

[brooklyn77]

If it helps...

I use Zone Alarm and it seems to work fine, it even gives you option to block programmes etc.. Sometimes it shows things which I did not know I had or dont know where to find them or just dont know what they do. It gives you the option to block access to the net, so if it is a harmful thing it wont talk to the internet without you knowing. If it turns out you did need it to run with the net, you just unblock it. Anyway its worked well for me, no spyware either. It flags up any anauthroised attempts to access the net. And temp blocks it until you give the all clear, or not. Quite easy to set up as well.

You should use a second firewall and not just XP.

For info, since I had a serious problem on my PC within a year of purchasing it I now use the following products to protect the PC.

Windows own firewall, Zone alarm, Norton anti-virus, regualarly scan PC with Ad-Aware and I have other standalone virus scanners as well. I set the Internet privacy options to Medium High. (Any lower and its too vulnerable, too higher and it blocks too much stuff you wont want blocked. Use higher only during periods where viruses are causing havoc on a grand scale.)

So far, over a year later my PC has no (known) spyware, no viruses, works like a dream and had no problems.

[Kendo]

The built in windows firewall is pretty basic but if you want a good free one,then you could do worse than check out "Outpost" by Agnitron.you also need to have decent spyware removal instaled.Adaware by Lavasoft is the best one.Microsoft have a new spyware program out which I have also been using,it is free to download and seems to be pretty useful,so far anyway.Spyware removal tools are very important because no matter how good a firewall is,most of them are designed to stop stuff getting in,rather than out.If you already have spyware on your PC,it can still do a bit of damage behind your firewall.