Free firewall for free antivirus and outbound protection?

[jill8beans2]

I know that Windows comes with a firewall, which I have never really done anything with.

I recently found this overview of firewalls on ZoneAlarms site:

http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/firewall/good-firewall.htm

They clearly know there stuff, so I am thinking about getting their free firewall.

This page says that ‘Some firewalls don’t have what’s called “outbound protection”. That means they can’t control information that leaves your computer.’

I heard that if you are using free anti-virus software, that it is better to use the free Zonealarm firewall then the Windows firewall.

Is this because the Windows firewall dosen’t have ‘outbound protection’?

Is it because the Zonealarm firewall is more configurable or user friendly?

[Allan]

The firewall in XP does not provide outbound protection. Having said that, I've never used a 3rd party firewall on any system, regardless of the OS. But hey, that's me.

[OpenSource]

I'm with Allan on that one.  I've found that most 3rd party firewalls on my customers' PC's interfere with their legitimate programs more than helping defeat malware infections.

Of course Zonealarm would say that it is better to use their own firewall rather than the windows firewall.

[OpenSource]

I'm with Allan on that one.  I've found that most 3rd party firewalls on my customers' PC's interfere with their legitimate programs more than helping defeat malware infections.

Of course Zonealarm would say that it is better to use their own firewall rather than the windows firewall.  But that kind of protection for a home user would seem to be overkill in my humble opinion.  If you were wanting legitimate firewall protection for your business, consider a watchdog firebox or a sonicwall.

I meant to edit that previous post *shrug*