Firewalls - Win XP vs Zone Alarm

[spaced]

which firewall is better, windows XP's own firewall or zone alarm? What make it better than the other?

Also, where can i download zone alarm from?

[spaced]

...i forgot to add - can you use both firewalls together?

[Ethel]

I use ZoneAlarm.

If I switch the XP firewall on they seem to work well together, but the XP one disables itself every time the computer is shut down.

You can download the free version of ZoneAlarm from here:

http://cgi3.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage& ;userid=cuddly-hippo

[fo3nix]

do not use them together, it just confuses things (and there's no point anyway).

the best free firewall, in my opinion, is neither of the above. instead, it's kerio personal firewall.

http://www.download.com/Sunbelt-Kerio-Personal-Firewall/ 3000-10435_4-10487068.html?tag=lst-0-1

works just as well as zone alarm, better infact, and also has the advantage that it starts up fast. zone alarm takes forever to load up initially.

it's better than XP's default because XP's doesn't offer a great amount of control like kerio does (or indeed zonealarm).

[Ethel]

I'm always open to new suggestions and am giving Kerio a go.

Easy to install.

[birdie1971]

The windows firewall is all but useless. Most hackers know how to switch it off remotely anyway. The windows firewall blocks unwanted incoming traffic but more importantly it doesn�t block outgoing traffic. The implications of this are quite worrying � if you inadvertently download some malicious software (such as spyware, trojans, etc.) the software has free reign to �phone home� without you knowledge. Zone Alarm is a decent free firewall as is Kerio.

[Lonnie]

I use Zone Alarm, and am very happy with it, as a matter of interest, Zone Alarm was one of 'Which Magazines' best buys.