Winfirewall + Avast is already enough IMO

[kenzai82]

These two already works great enough .. Since Windows Firewall + Avast antivirus with trojan killer capabilites.. if something really go thru Avast, i think it doesn't matter anymore  even if u have a GOOD FIREWALL since firewall can't kill VIRUSES / GOOD TROJAN.. =D

Why waste time finding firewall which conflict / have problem with ur web connection in the end mess up with ur system =D

[Bluesman]

These two already works great enough .. Since Windows Firewall + Avast antivirus with trojan killer capabilites.. if something really go thru Avast, i think it doesn't matter anymore  even if u have a GOOD FIREWALL since firewall can't kill VIRUSES / GOOD TROJAN.. =D

Why waste time finding firewall which conflict / have problem with ur web connection in the end mess up with ur system =D

You also need a good spyware/trojan-program...just firewall an Avast isn't enough IMHO, but hey, it's your computer

And the WinXP firewall is not a good firewall.

[DavidR]

Whislt the windows firewall is good at stealthing your system it provides precious little other protection.

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 (user names, passwords, keylogger retrieved data, etc.) or open a backdoor to your computer, so outbound protection is essential.

See some firewall tests for comparison, some are freeware but many are paid for versions http://www.firewallleaktester.com/tests.php. Just check out the Results page and look for WinXP SP2 firewall and then tell me you think that it is enough.
Also see http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/firewalls.shtml for other firewalls.

[martosurf]

Hello dear forum

Good point kenzai82, I think you've found another cool 'feature' of avast! antivirus - I love avast! because these men seems to really know their job and do it with love, you note that in the final product.

I agree totally with you because you know, the best program is the one that just fit on a floppy disk I mean Long Live to Assembly code   

WinXP sp2 built-in firewall is a good firewall, nothing more and nothing less (and I'm one of that guys that just don't like Micro$oft). The only thing I really miss is the outbound auditory because sometimes I'm curious about certain activity of some programs... for example, did you know Word, Excel and so on soft connects to internet from time to time? Why in the world a spreadsheet or a word processor needs to connect to internet, huh? Updates? C'mon, they're updated thru Office Update or the recently Microsoft Update...

Anyway, I actually use avast! Pro with WinXP sp2 Firewall and compliment them with Peerguardian 2 (specially usefull if you p2p) and the resident module of Spybot which's soft on CPU cycles than Lavasoft Ad-Aware resident. Oh yes, I use to X-NetStat to monitor suspicious transmissions.

Why not to take a full suite that do all of that by itself? Because every single one -maybe one or two not- are like hippopotamus, big, fat and slow 
and using avast! + WinXP2 firewall + PG2 + Spybot's resident you have a respetable degree of security, without giving up much computer resources, in fact very little of it. You can even complement your security arsenal with programs like ProcessGuard or the System Safety Monitor as proposed by Tech severak times which I found really excellent - thanks Tech
Also, Neoava Guard 1 is still on beta but uses fewer resources than ProcessG and SSM.

Last but not least, check the 1-Defender from AMUST Corp., a FREE application that isolates IE and Outlook -if you use it- from potential risks launching both appz in Limited User mode rather in Administrator as many of us use Windows. I forget to mention that PeerGuardian2, Spybot, ProcessGuard, SSM and Neoava are FREE software too, and well coded... and the firewall came as bonus with your operating system.

I tell you man, I surf warez site on regular basis and I HAVEN'T GOT any incident in about two years - but I use Opera browser instead IE too. 
I've saw every kind of malware but none of them gets to the system, and I have particular interesting malware in a folder for testing and experiment 

I find spyware/worms/virus/rootkits and alike a good industry nich to make $$$ but not a real threat to any user with common sense. I mean a little level of protection is indeed a must, but I don't buy the propaganda big corporations and media does.

Being a long computer user I saw the evolution of viruses and trust me, nowadays virus aren't really virus, almost not as DOS viruses used to be.

I remember excellent applications like Central Point Antivirus or Turbo Antivirus and later F-Prot (who firstly used the 'heuristic' feature) and later even the Norton Antivirus... and that was funny becasue Peter Norton itself -before selling his name to Symantec- once said that "computer viruses are so real like the sharks of NY sewers"... well... maybe he wasn't Stoned ever or he even never turned on his computer on a Friday 13th (aka Jerusalem) LOL 
Hey, someone remember Ping virus? It was very funny -an desperating- to see a small 'ping-pong ball' bounce in the monitor erasing every character it passes on. And don't tell you folks how scared I was the first time I saw DOS Norton Commander's screensaver... sh*t, that was a bad moment -and alot funny later.

I once again want to mention the excellence of avast!. There are currently lot of very good choices out there heading them NOD32 and Kaspersky -to my taste- but no one can with avast!, the best of it breed.

If you still want a firewall... er... well... if it makes you happy... if it brings you a [false] security sense there's a lot of them outside... wish you luck with your decision... you will need it LOL 

Oh, one more: Tech too recommends Ewido -there's a free version- for the Trojan hunting. Please take in mind that the more real-time scanners you have -antivirus | antirootkits | antispyware | antitrojan | antietc. - the lower performance your computer will have, I think a manual scan from time to time is sufficient. You can always buy a 6 ghz CPU just

Remember: as I stated above, I check warez sites on semi daily basis downloading lots of cracks, keygens, etc. and haven't got ANY issue in a looooong time.

Best regards!!

[JerryM]

These two already works great enough .. Since Windows Firewall + Avast antivirus with trojan killer capabilites.. if something really go thru Avast, i think it doesn't matter anymore  even if u have a GOOD FIREWALL since firewall can't kill VIRUSES / GOOD TROJAN.. =D

Why waste time finding firewall which conflict / have problem with ur web connection in the end mess up with ur system =D

Hi,
I won't dispute that Avast is a good AV and may be all you need.
But I would not say that it has good "trojan killer capabilities."

AV Comparatives Feb 06 test indicated that Avast had a 80.35% detection rate for trojans, compared to over 99% for seveal others. That may still not be a problem for you, but just information. While I do not consider that bad, I prefer a better detection rate.

I would add a good anti-trojan application if I were using Avast. I would also add something like free Spyware Terminator for real time protection. I think both Ewido, and the new a-squared have a very good anti-spyware detection rate in addition to trojan detection. I have not used BOclean, but it has a good following.

Best,
Jerry

[Lisandro]

I would add a good anti-trojan application if I were using Avast. I would also add something like free Spyware Terminator for real time protection. I think both Ewido, and the new a-squared have a very good anti-spyware detection rate in addition to trojan detection.

Sure, both of them are very good trojan detectors and removers