Firewalls, firewalls...which ones to use?

[oceaneer]

OK, winXP has one, my cable modem (Lynksys) has one, my cable provider (Millennium) has one, I have one (Zone alarm). Should I use just one, or will they all work together? Somehow I don't think they will......

What is going to work best here? I am just setting the new computer up, and as of now have only XP installed with no net connection - leaving firewalls and antivirus off until all my programs get installed.

Thanks

[Fluff]

AVG 7 free and the built in xp sp2 firewall is what i use.

Zone Alarm should be fine. Think it gives slightly better protection than built in one.

[oceaneer]

So you think running two will not cause any conflicts?

[ZokesPro]

I take it your cable provider offers you a 'software' firewall that you need to install? Like Freedom? (correct me if I'm wrong, btw I hate Freedom, the software)

Just having a router is good enough, but if you want to be able to control each application individually then your router AND ZA will be sufficient, IMO.

That's my setup at home, a d-link router with sygate personal firewall and it's been running flawlessly for many O months. (I de-activate windows firewall cause I hate them, but that's me)

[The PIT]

I use a router with a built in firewall and a softwall firewall like Nortons.

The router seems to block 99.9% of stuff and norton picks up the rest.

Had bad experiances of both Zonealarm and Nortons in the past. Zonealarm turning everything off and then refusing to turn it back on and Nortons not uninstalling properly which Zonealarm has also suffered from.

[oceaneer]

Yes, the cable company provides a software firewall - not freedom, but the same thing. I think I will start with the router one, and introduce ZA and see what happens.

Thanks

[ZokesPro]

Usually you only need a software firewall to control what programs access the net, aside from that, just having a router should be sufficient for the everyday user.

[chaoliang]

I read somewhere that one doesn't really need a firewall if the real-time virus scanner is always on and works. The reason, they say, is that if only those true trojan horses settle on the system (which can't be avoided by firewalls), the firewalls are easily be tricked out. And virus scanners seem to treat such trojan horses as virus.

[Marshmallowman]

There are direct exploits whereby machine can by infected/taken over simply by being conected to the net....virus scanners don't stop that.

[ZokesPro]

Originally posted by oceaneer
Yes, the cable company provides a software firewall - not freedom, but the same thing. I think I will start with the router one, and introduce ZA and see what happens.

Thanks

At least with a router, if you format or whatever and haven't installed a firewall yet, you needn't worry, tis why I love routers.

[Elie]

I would avoid software based F/W's like the plague!!

Nothing will do the job better and faster than a dedicated firewall like the Juniper 5GT (previously Netscreen)

The Linksys, Netgear, US Robotic routers are also good, I use a Linksys at home and it's great.

Regards,
Elie

[Adis]

I'm using Sygate Personal Firewall Pro and never get any problems with it

[Mcollector]

BlackICE.

[Mcollector]

But dedicated h/w firewalls are best.

[leech]

I have a router, then a Linux server behind that router, (which is using Shorewall/Iptables) and behind that is the rest of my network. I think I'm pretty safe here Never had any of those nasty virii that affect your PC as soon as you plug it into the net.... in fact, I've never gotten a virus unless it's something I downloaded just to see if it IS a virus. And just to be on the even safer side, I use Linux for all my important things, I only use Windows for playing games.

Leech