Windows XP Firewall?

[Kelemvor]

Howdy,

I'm installing WIndows XP Home for some friends who killed their hard drive. They previously had Norton's Securit Suite which I can't stand. I was going to just pop Zone Alarm on there and let them use that but is the built in WIndows XP Firewall any good? I've never used it so don't really know how it works.

I coudl leave the Windows XP firewal on and put on Micrsoft AntiSPyare or Defender or wahtever it is. They will have Norton Antivirus so it's mainly just the firewall and spyreware protection I want since their kids use it too.

Any thoughts?

 

[Fingolfin269]

Do they use a router? I don't see the point in a software firewall as long as you have a router.

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Do they use a router? I don't see the point in a software firewall as long as you have a router.

Yes but they also have two kids in High school that like to go places they shouldn't so any extra protection would be good.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Take a look at the prevention and firewall section on The Consolidated Security thread that is linked in my sig.

 

[John]

The XP firewall does a decent job, but I think the bigger issue is spyware, viruses, and parental controls. I'd highly recommend a cable'dsl router for their home LAN. If the kids aren't supposed to go to certain sites they can set up a proxy on another computer to filter them out. CCProxy is a popular solution that is easy to set up. I'd also stick them on a limited account. Imaging the hard drive might not be a bad idea as well.