Re: Is Windows firewall a supplement to third party FW?

From: Ron Martell (ron_at_onlinehelp.bc.ca)
Date: 06/27/04 

Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 19:34:28 GMT

"Hem" <no_reply@please.com> wrote:

>XP Home, SP1. Is the ICF intended as a supplement to third party firewalls?
>What I mean by this is if I use a third party fw should I deactivate the
>Windows one or leave it on. Thanks.

The biggest "problem" with the Windows Firewall is that it only
protects against outside intrusions getting into your computer. It
does nothing at all with regard to spyware or viruses on your machine
trying to "phone home" or to spread themselves to other computers.

It is very good at what it does, and if your only concern is about
outside intrusions (hackers etc) then the Windows ICF is fully
adequate and there is no need for anything else.

But if you also want to block undesirable outgoing traffic from your
computer (spywar, trojans, etc.) then you need a third party product
and with that in place there is no need to also have the Windows ICF
running. It is additional processing overhead and there is no benefit
from doing so if there is also another firewall running.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada 

-- 
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

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