Have a question about the service pack 2 Firewall

[parachutestx]

I noticed that security center  in the area that says security essentials says its on and I check my network connections but when I go down to where it says firewall the option keeps saying its not on how does that work ?

[neal62]

With WinsXp, SP2 the Windows Firewall comes on automatically when you turn on your pc and boot up. Or, if it doesn't it should.
If you go to start, settings, control panel, you should see an icon called "Windows Firewall". If you left click on that you should see whether it's turned on or off....

[PigDog]

A friend of mine had a problem with the SP2 firewall switching itself on and off and security centre and system tray giving confilcting information.  We found out it was because he installed SP2 without having previously installed SP1.  Installing SP1 (without rolling back the SP2 install) fixed the problem.

[DavidR]

There is no requirement to install SP1 before SP2 as it is a cumlative update of all patches up to and including SP2. There is obviously some other issue.

[parachutestx]

I found out why

I have the Zonealarm program and thats my default firewall.

[bob3160]

ZA and XP2 Security Center work well together:

[Lisandro]

ZA and XP2 Security Center work well together:

Bob, I have a doubt...
If you have a third party firewall like ZA, do you have to turn off the Windows internal one?
I use Outpost and does not disabled the internal Windows one.
When I open the Central Security, I does not see Outpost there?

Sasha, how does it work for you?  

[inthewildteam]

Just a reminder sp2 firewall only stops inbound traffic .......not outbound, although it does load before the o.s loads, so in theory, provides protection as the system boots fully into windoze before other add-on software firewalls load.

My opinion (he adds quickly) I don't rely on it alone.  Compatability issues with sp2 firewall and other software firewalls seem to come down to individual machine configurations.  Personal opinion here  

[bob3160]

Technical
I have both running Windows Firewall and ZA and neither one balks about the others presence.

[inthewildteam]

Technical
I have both running Windows Firewall and ZA and neither one balks about the others presence.

I agree with you about both firewalls running together (za and sp2) unfortunately za completely "hides" my machine and results in unwanted network traffic from my isp trying to establish a connection.  I had to un-install it for that reason............. my cable provider needed to have a response to allow connection.

[bob3160]

Technical
I have both running Windows Firewall and ZA and neither one balks about the others presence.

I agree with you about both firewalls running together (za and sp2) unfortunately za completely "hides" my machine and results in unwanted network traffic from my isp trying to establish a connection.  I had to un-install it for that reason............. my cable provider needed to have a response to allow connection.

I'm sorry, you lost me??? I also use cable and don't have that problem.

[inthewildteam]

bob

my cable connection requires a response to it's network ping, if it gets no response, I'm offline as far as my isp sees.

They can then allocate my network address to another customer, although it's still in use by me.

Convention dictates that any machine connected should be "pingable" so that the address isn't allocated to another machine.  Full on zonealarm disregards this network protocol and causes problems.

[bob3160]

inthewildteam:
So what did you do to satisfy your cable co.??

[inthewildteam]

inthewildteam:
So what did you do to satisfy your cable co.??

Changed to outpost firewall

[Lisandro]

Changed to outpost firewall

Does it appear into the Central Security?
I mean, can you read Outpost there like Bob reads ZoneAlarm?