Careful windows firewall doesn't monitor outbound traffic they only monitor inbound traffic, you need a good firewall that both monitor in & out bound traffic
well i would beg to differ on this point in regard to outbound traffic.
If your using windows firewall on a clean machine then controlling outbound traffic need not be a concern.
If the firewall keeps the baddies out then it is a good firewall in my opinion.
A firewall should protect both inbound and outbound traffic.
I guess you don't care about sending out your personal information and doing your banking and shopping on line
Bob, sending out information like that is not outbound traffic even though you may think it is. Inbound and outbound in computer terms actually mean exactly the opposite of what you would think. Data flows out from incoming connections and in from outgoing ones. Therefore you mostly only have to worry about incoming connection attempts since they are the ones that can be used to steal your data. The only way data can be stolen in the scenarios you mention is by keyloggers and possible interception of wireless signals and the like. Firewalls do not protect from those things.
For most people, the Windows Firewall is sufficient and not worthless at all. Outbound protection is for the most part worthless because if you have to worry about something connecting that shouldn't, it's already too late because you're already infected. An outbound connection actually means a connection
request going out from your computer to another one. The data from such a connection being established is actually coming in and not going out. Therefore, like 99.99% of the time, you do not need outgoing monitoring and the incoming protection of the Windows Firewall is perfectly sufficient since it means incoming connection attempts possibly trying to retrieve information from your system.. Malware has to actually be present on the system to attempt to "dial out" so like I said, you're already infected if it happens and a Firewall does not protect against that. It is the job of your AV to protect from those things.
Outbound protection can prevent an infection from becoming worse but does not stop it becoming established and therefore, imo, is greatly overrated for most computer users. There is a reason why Microsoft does not enable it by default. It would create an almost entirely useless need for user interaction in performing everyday tasks.