Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (
More info?)
Greetings --
WinXP's built-in firewall is _adequate_ at stopping incoming
attacks, and hiding your ports from probes. What WinXP also does not
do, is protect you from any Trojans or spyware that you (or someone
else using your computer) might download and install inadvertently.
It doesn't monitor out-going traffic at all, other than to check for
IP-spoofing, much less block (or at even ask you about) the bad or the
questionable out-going signals. It assumes that any application you
have on your hard drive is there because you want it there, and
therefore has your "permission" to access the Internet. Further,
because the ICF (or the Windows Firewall, post-SP2) is a "stateful"
firewall, it will also assume that any incoming traffic that's a
direct response to a Trojan's or spyware's out-going signal is also
authorized.
ZoneAlarm, Kerio, or Sygate are all much better than WinXP's
built-in firewall, and are much more easily configured, and there are
free versions of each readily available. Even the commercially
available Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall is superior by far,
although it does take a heavier toll of system performance then do
ZoneAlarm or Sygate.
Bruce Chambers
--
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"kage" <skywagon185@nomsn.com> wrote in message
news:2oqllqFdbqq3U1@uni-berlin.de...
>I wonder which firewall I should run? PC-Cillin or SP2?
>
> Best,
> Karl
>