Firewall?

[CWBillow]

I am on a home network, with a "firewall" in the router.  My specific PC is wireless to the host machine.

We are all running Windows XP Pro SP-2.

I am running Avast Pro 4.x.

If I install Zone Alarm, Avast gives me a message of a conflict, suggesting I turn off Avast's firewall.

I wasn't aware that Avast had firewall capabilities.

Do I even need Zone Alarm assuming all the above?

Regards,
Chuck Billow

[galooma]

Hi and welcome ,
yes a firewall is important, it monitors traffic,inward and out , ignore the message ok
good luck

[CWBillow]

Ignore avast!'s message, and install Zone Alarm?

a firewall is important, it monitors traffic,inward and out , ignore the message ok

[timcan]

Ignore avast!'s message, and install Zone Alarm?

a firewall is important, it monitors traffic,inward and out , ignore the message ok

   If this is the free ZA, click no to the message.It works fine with avast.

[Lisandro]

If I install Zone Alarm, Avast gives me a message of a conflict, suggesting I turn off Avast's firewall.

avast! is not a firewall.
It works perfectly with ZoneAlarm (free) and, if you follow the messages of avast installation process, with ZoneAlarm Pro too.
There is a conflict that will be solved in next ZoneAlarm version (as the problem in on a driver of them, not avast).

[lukor]

avast! is not a firewall.
It works perfectly with ZoneAlarm (free) and, if you follow the messages of avast installation process, with ZoneAlarm Pro too.
There is a conflict that will be solved in next ZoneAlarm version (as the problem in on a driver of them, not avast).

I agree. In fact there is a conflict with ZoneAlarm (or I rather like to call it a bug in ZoneAlarm) that prevents it's Cookie blocking features to work correctly with WebShield in transparent mode. Unfortunately I doubt that will be ever solved by them. You might either turn the Cookie blocking off or turn the WebShield's transparent mode off.

And besides this there is bug in ZoneAlarm (or I rather like to call it a critical bug) that causes blue screen of death with async IO (eg. those that are performed by WebShield). This bug will be hopefully fixed very soon.

[DavidR]

Ignore avast!'s message, and install Zone Alarm?

a firewall is important, it monitors traffic,inward and out , ignore the message ok

See these links:
http://www.avast.com/eng/webshield_issues.html

If you are using ZoneAlarm Pro and Privacy Control in ZoneAlarm is set to High and if you click YES in avast comptability dialog box the transparent mode proxy in webshield will be turned off you have to manually configure browser to access internet. To manually configure your browser watch instructional video

For IE - broadband users: - Tutorial - Web Shield Proxy Set-up for IE
For IE - dialup users - Tutorial - Web Shield Proxy Set-up for IE (Dial-up)
For Firefox users - Tutorial - Web Shield Proxy Set-up for Firefox

[lawrenceimpey]

"We are all running Windows XP Pro SP-2"

If that's the case you don't need a third party firewall -- just activate the one in XP.

[DavidR]

Wrong, the XP firewall only provides inbound protection, not full outbound protection. There is nothing to stop any new or undetected trojan/worm from connecting to the internet to download more of the same or upload your user name/passwords, credit card details or any other personal confidential information, etc.

[Lisandro]

"We are all running Windows XP Pro SP-2" If that's the case you don't need a third party firewall -- just activate the one in XP.

I trust in Microsoft.
But I never trusted ONLY in Microsoft.
Why do users never learn that it's impossible for Microsoft being the best in ALL fields...

[DavidR]

This was probably one of the worst things MS did call the crippled XP firewall a firewall. It lulls people into a false sense of security in thinking they are full protected when there is nothing stopping malware connecting to the internet if it manages to get on your system.

[AvastForever]

"We are all running Windows XP Pro SP-2" If that's the case you don't need a third party firewall -- just activate the one in XP.

I trust in Microsoft.
But I never trusted ONLY in Microsoft.
Why do users never learn that it's impossible for Microsoft being the best in ALL fields...

I agree. Windows xp is ok for those who just connect to internet for email or just a quick shopping (10min tops). But for the Hard-core internet users out there and the always on internet access like me needs ZA or the like. Windows Xp just protects incoming attacks which i believe is useless since alot of trojans connect to internet on they own.

Basic Line:

Always-on internet connection, Hard-core internet users= Need a personal firewall like ZA, sygate, etc.

For some people even a personal FW like ZA is good to have for light internet users even though is not really needed.