How secure is Windows Firewall?

[MA]

How secure is windows firewall? i've heard that it is the 'weakest' firewall out there. Should it be used as a main firewall? or just to supplement another?

 

[MA]

Thanx for all the replies, however, i've decided to get McAfee Personal Firewall+ ('legit version' ) in addition to windows firewall, just incase.

 

[thomson]

Thanx for all the replies, however, i've decided to get McAfee Personal Firewall+ ('legit version' ) in addition to windows firewall, just incase.

dont run two firewalls together mate, you will cause problems, pick either one or the other but NEVER two at once, just use the mcafee one mate :Cheers:

 

[MA]

dont run two firewalls together mate, you will cause problems, pick either one or the other but NEVER two at once, just use the mcafee one mate :Cheers:

i asked this question earlier in the thread, and I was told it's OK to run more than 1 firewall at a time.

 

[Rat]

sure it is m8 its anti virus that conflicts

 

[thomson]

sure it is m8 its anti virus that conflicts

what iam saying is it could cause him problems in that if he hits a snag with something he's trying to run, at least he would only have one firewall to contend with rather than confusing him with two, know what I mean ??

Plus, I was always advised not to have 2 different types of internet security running at the same time, now , whether that meant firewall and antivirus or just antivirus iam not sure but one thing I am sure of is if you ask most people in the know, they wouldnt advise you to have 2 firewalls running at one time, not much point anyway if you make sure the one you run is spot on to start with

 

[MA]

what iam saying is it could cause him problems in that if he hits a snag with something he's trying to run, at least he would only have one firewall to contend with rather than confusing him with two, know what I mean ??
Plus, I was always advised not to have 2 different types of internet security running at the same time, now , whether that meant firewall and antivirus or just antivirus iam not sure but one thing I am sure of is if you ask most people in the know, they wouldnt advise you to have 2 firewalls running at one time, not much point anyway if you make sure the one you run is spot on to start with

oh, ok, thanks. I'll stick to 2 firewalls and an antivirus software, just to be on the safe side. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[capdan]

Just to jump on the band waggon, A NAT Router it the better solution as this sits outside the internal network. windows firewall is ok for stopping joe blogs from using standard hacking tools. Norton is ok but if you have a system that has been infected with viruses and trojans than installing norton can really slow your system down. That is my 2pence worth. Capdan - MCP

 

[craigend33]

and i agrree with the lot of you`s

 

[thomson]

and i agrree with the lot of you`s

lol @ craigend, mon the rangers, hehe !

 

[troopy]

oh, ok, thanks. I'll stick to 2 firewalls and an antivirus software, just to be on the safe side. Better to be safe than sorry.

m8 2 firewalls WILL cause you problems,

2 AV however is fine, I use AVG and Bitdefender.

Cheers

 

[lone.gunman]

Hmm..this is getting confusing..-)
Have a read HERE...Basically the crux is to only allow one A/V to scan 'realtime' if you run two A/V's with realtime scanning on both of them the actions of one may trigger the other into thinking it's a virus. Also if you run two A/V's, you may loose a shed load of system resources, for instance most peeps would acknowledge that Norton & McAfee are heavy loads, running them together (if you could install both-I think one will not install if the other is resident??), would be murder. There are some specfic cases where you may need to install two A/V products, but these relate to server setups, not client pc's.
On the subject of Firewalls, running two is not a problem provided they are configured correctly, which also can be a pain at times. If you think logically, a firewall, is just a filter and you can have single stage filtering or multiple.....Alot of peeps use the built in XP firewall (which is quite good actually, although only really working on inbound traffic) & another third party product, such as ZoneAlarm. This is what I have and works very well. Again, there are some specific cases where you may need/want two or more firewalls, for instance if you run a server with two network adapters (one for the 'outside world' & one for your local network).
The advice I've always been given by IT peeps is one A/V product, kept upto date & a good Firewall is fine for client PC's.
Hope this clears things up a bit..

Have Fun

 

[Core2Duo]

yeah, but i heard that having more than 1 firewall is actually like having no firewall at all, something about they work against each other

Yea but u turn windows firewall off

 

[smitherz]

Depending on what firewall they can conflict with each other, it is the same as having two virus scanners running. They can pick up things that aren't there as a result.