does windows XP firewall really work?

[DrTandem1]

Why not just get a router and hide behind its firewall? Firewalls such as Zonealarm are good, but they will also slow down your connection. No matter what you choose, go to Shields Up and test your ports:

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

[TrafficProducer]

Norton : not for me!

Norton has cause people I know problems.

I beleve some Norton trys to take over the Operating System and this causes problems with Windows for some users.

[Weedy Lady]

"I beleve some Norton....."

Not that I don't trust or believe all you good web people, but I talked to my local computer geek person, who explained very clearly that Norton 2005 is the bad one. He said that earlier versions of Norton were great for most people, but 2005 has caused so many problems that their store has a sign telling people that if they install 2005 they will be almost guaranteed to need major service on their computer.

How come no one here said that? Everyone just bad mouths Norton in general. Specifics are helpful and most welcome.

I am going to try Zone Alarm again, having hated it about 3 years ago when I used it (I had paid for it, too). I'll try the free version to see if it agrees with my new laptop and with me, then switch to the Pro if all is well. What the heck, I can always switch the XP firewall back on, can't I?

[C French]

The "N" in norton stands for Nitemare.
McAfee= Yes!
Altho, I'm using the free AVG and haven't had a single problem

[tangotv]

I agree with the negative comments about Norton 2005. Our local computer store also cautions people about Norton. They report all kinds of problems coming through their door caused by Norton.
They recommend "Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security".
Has anyone else heard about this product?

[Weedy Lady]

Hey, tangotv -- neat picture of you!!!!

[tangotv]

Thanks, weedylady!

Loved your post because I am in the process of doing the same thing. Moving more and more into my laptop, and transferring files and other material from my poor old increasingly neglected PC. I clutch my little new USB drive, plug it in, and transfer pictures and files that way. Don't know if this is a good way to do this, but seemed like the route to go for me.

I hope I don't find out that there is a much easier way!

[garris]

I hear all the stuff you guys are saying quite often, but Norton has been good to me ... except lately. But I've learned that it has to be used correctly or it will be the nightmare we all hear about.
For instance, I hate networking, but I've got 7 computers on a peer-to-peer behind a Linksys router. I kept running into problems, and suspected Norton. Then I turned off the Norton Firewall, and bingo! Everything worked together and all the computers are friends again. (How nice.)
But I'm still confused about the router vs. firewall issues. If you have a good router with a built-in firewall, why do you need another firewall?

BTW - I think the pictures are great also. I just can't figure out how to include mine.

[Grinler]

I agree wholeheartedly with those who say stay away from Norton. I cant count the times I have helped people remove it because it was causing problems and couldnt be removed properly from my forums. AVG Free is excellent, as is kapersky.

Ewido Security suite is a great program as well, though not as widely known. Great Trojan scanner and used heavily among the antimalware community these days.

For firewalls, a hardware based firewall (router), will stop all worms/hacks other then ones that infect you from email, file sharing, and instant messengers. If you still want a software firewall, Zonealarm is definitely the easiest one to use and you should stay from NIS. Another popular one is Kerio.

I wrote up a tutorial a while back that goes into good practices on protecting your computer and it can be found here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tut82.html

I wrote it because everytime we would clean a computer, the same user would come back a month later infected again.

Hope this helps.

[Weedy Lady]

tangotv....either your USB drive or a save disk will do the same thing rather easily. The easiest thing is to spend about $15 for an Ethernet cable. Or spend more for a hub and network the two. I'm sticking with the save disks for now because I just have to swivel my chair around to get from one computer to the other.

Re hard firewall and software one....Since there is no such thing as too much computer protection, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want both.

re; how to upload your own picture. Here is the url for that process
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=29672