Windows Firewall Vs Third Party Firewall

[bluemonkey]

Is the windows firewall sufficient enough protection or am I better off with Nortons etc. ?

[kai920]

Is the windows firewall sufficient enough protection or am I better off with Nortons etc. ?

Windows SP2 (service pack 2) has a built in firewall, yes, but it does not protect outbound connections.  For example, if there is some sort of "phone home" program that has installed itslef into your computer and tries to transmit information stolen from your PC, the SP2 firewall will not detect that.

IMO, SP2's is better than none. But you're better off installing something more robust, like Zonealarm or Kerio.  (both of which ahve free version I believe).

[MattHanlin]

I agree with Kai on this one. Windows firewall is OK but not good to rely on but something to think about is you can run Windows Firewall at the same time as a third party firewall. I use Mcafee Firewall and Windows Firewall at the same time to give me a bit more added protection.

[canman]

Is the windows firewall sufficient enough protection or am I better off with Nortons etc. ?

Windows SP2 (service pack 2) has a built in firewall, yes, but it does not protect outbound connections.  For example, if there is some sort of "phone home" program that has installed itslef into your computer and tries to transmit information stolen from your PC, the SP2 firewall will not detect that.

IMO, SP2's is better than none. But you're better off installing something more robust, like Zonealarm or Kerio.  (both of which ahve free version I believe).

Generally I would not recommend running two software firewalls at the same time, as there is the chance of a conflict between the two which could leave you totally unprotected.  Now running one software firewall in tandem with a hardware firewall is ok as there is no chance of conflict between the two.  Any 3rd party software firewall running on Windows XP will do all that the built in one can do anyway, and more.  If you are worried about the protection your firewall is giving you I would suggest testing it, you can do this at various websites including http://www.auditmypc.com/freescan/scanoptions.asp , or http://www.hackerwatch.org/probe/ .

[tekguru]

Windows Firewall is OK for the 'newbie' that doesn't want to many things confusing him, although it isn't the greatest. In my opinion I prefer Kerio Personal Firewall although it is being discountinued which is a shame- I will probably keep on using it after it has been discontinued for a while.

Thanks
Tek-Guru

[gotforce]

as its been said again and again its better than none but your definately better off with a third party firewall, just one thing i have to mention though is that, don't go for norton  :-\ i've had huge troubles with them before and it never worked out well  . IMO McAfee offers a great bundle with AV and a firewall, it's reliable, easy to use and has regular updates, for £20 (see other thread) it is an excellent deal.