is their any other good free firewall programs besides zonealarm. I am using zonealarm right now and for some reason it interferes with my dsl connection sometimes. I gave persmission for it to allow IE but it still sometimes intereferes and i have to shut down the program.
go here and check the ratings on all the different firewalls and decide for yourself. http://www.grc.com/lt/scoreboard.htm
Use the built in firewall for XP. Start->Settings->Network Connections->LAN connection->Properties->Advanced Check the "Protect my computer box". Check the settings box for more detailed protection.
Get Sygate - it doesn't take up much resources, has a better interface and has better protection imo. http://www.sygate.com/ Once you download it, test it one the many firewall testing sites, (firewall testing on google) It keeps all the suck out.
yeah, be sure to be logged in on an administrator account to enable the XP firewall. Do you have a direct DSL connection or a router? Most routhers have built-in firewalls as well.
Whichever firewall you choose to use, I'd check it out on Shields Up! Does Zone Alarm do the same thing with Firefox?
all these personal firewalls are all and great, but like DanHiggs mentioned.....most broadband routers have NAT firewalls builtin....much more effective than software firewalls on your individual machine. whichever route you go...make sure to run over to grc.com and use their ShieldUp utility to test and make sure nothing gets thru to you after you install one.
I like Sygate as well. Also, start using <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox">Firefox</a> instead of IE . . .