Re: XP Firewall or Zone Alarm ?

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frodo@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: 
Are you dial-up, or behind a residential gateway (w/ NAT)?  If the later
then stick w/ XP's Firewall, it's good enough in combo w/ the NAT.  If
dial-up you may appreciate ZA's finer control.


	That's no where close to being true.

    If you use a router with NAT, it's still a very good idea to use a
3rd party software firewall.  Like WinXP's built-in firewall,
NAT-capable routers do *nothing* to protect the user from him/herself
(or any "curious," over-confident teenagers in the home).  Again --
and I cannot emphasize this enough -- almost all spyware and many
Trojans and worms are downloaded and installed deliberately (albeit
unknowingly) by the user.  So a software firewall, such as Sygate or
ZoneAlarm, that can detect and warn the user of unauthorized out-going
traffic is an important element of protecting one's privacy and
security.  (Remember: Most antivirus applications do not even scan for
or protect you from adware/spyware, because, after all, you've
installed them yourself, so you must want them there, right?)

    I use both a router with NAT and Sygate Personal Firewall, even
though I generally know better than to install scumware.  When it
comes to computer security and protecting my privacy, I prefer the old
"belt and suspenders" approach.  In the professional IT community,
this is also known as a "layered defense."  Basically, it comes down
to never, ever "putting all of your eggs in one basket."



Note that SP2's firewall is almost as good as ZA, 

..... not even close!




--

Bruce Chambers

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