Windows and Avast firewall, Will they conflict?

[Joshg94]

Ok hey guys im new here and have had a Mac for a few years so im not very good with all this anti virus stuff..

I have asked this question on a few forums and all i get is people saying yes and no and no definite answer :s

Will the windows 7 firewall conflict with the Avast internet security firewall i will be buying later, my track record with windows pc's has always been really bad when it comes to being protected so i want to get this one right.

I would like a reason why it wouldn't conflict or why it would, whichever it is.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! 

[CraigB]

Avast designed there firewall to work hand in hand with the windows firewall, the windows one can be disabled but would be better left on as the avast firewall does not yet support IPv6.

[DBone]

Are you behind a router NAT firewall? If yes, then my personal opinion would be to not install the avast! firewall, and go with Windows 7 firewall. Your NAT firewall will do most of the heavy lifting anyway, and unless you need/want outgoing notifications, the W7 firewall will be more than sufficient............It's what I would do.

[DavidR]

Personally that would be a big mistake:
The windows 7 firewall has outbound protection disabled by default, even when you enable that outbound protection, it is rules based and the user has to define the rules. For the majority of people this may be too much to define these custom rules.

Any malware that manages to get past your defences will have free reign to connect to the internet to either download more of the same, pass your personal data (sensitive or otherwise, user names, passwords, keylogger retrieved data, etc.) or open a backdoor to your computer, so outbound protection is essential. Firewalls will automatically allow traffic requests back into the system if the request originated from the system.



Just browse the forums to see malware trying to gain access to the internet, whilst the network shield usually catches the majority of these, nothing will be 100% so you need outbound protection to prevent unauthorised outbound connections.

[Asyn]

Will the windows 7 firewall conflict with the Avast internet security firewall i will be buying later...

No.

[CharleyO]

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One thing many people forget about these days is that not all malware that can get on your computer will come from connections to the Internet. A Router, unless it also has a firewall that has both inbound & outbound protection, is no protection from those malware that can get into your from connectable devices. Almost no router has outbound protection though there are a few that do.

You know, and most likely will use, some of those connectable devices - usb drives, recorded CDs & DVDs, SD & micro-SD cards, etc. - that may be already infected when you use them. These devices may come from friends whose computers may be infected. And in a few remote cases, there have been a few of these devices that came from the manufacturers new and infected. In these scenarios, the malware is free to go onto the Internet and invite their malware friends into your computer as well as collect your sensitive data as David said.
This is not something you want at all. And since the call(s) originated from your computer, the inbound only firewall will let them in.

So, as David has suggested, it is essential  to have a very good firewall that provides both inbound & outbound protection all in one program and, though W7 does have outbound protection when activated, it is painful rules based.

So, I would suggest that you turn off the W7 firewall & get the AIS and have a program that will give you the best possible protection.


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[Joshg94]

So I shouldn't run them both?

[CharleyO]

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You can run both but there is no need and it might slow your computer a bit.

[Joshg94]

I heart Avast firewall doesn't protect port ipv6 or something if that makes any sense, and that windows 7 firewall does

[hlecter]

I heart Avast firewall doesn't protect port ipv6 or something if that makes any sense, and that windows 7 firewall does

Correct at this time.
IPv6 support only in Win7 firewall and not Avast firewall by now.

You have to decide if you want outbound protection or not:

If yes, which I absolutely advise, you have to use Avast firewall because of problems between Avast Antivirus and Win 7 firewall
when it comes to outbound protection in Win 7 firewall.
(there is another looong thread about this 'problem')

Since both firewalls are compatible and if you want IPv6 support you must then run both firewalls,
which is no problem to do.

Your choice,

HTH.

[CraigB]

So I shouldn't run them both?

As i mentioned earlyer it is benificial to keep both active, otherwise avast would have designed it to disable the windows firewall