Filed under: Registry Cleaners
Is having two firewalls compatible with my computer or would it conflict with each other?
August 23, 2010
4 thoughts on “Is having two firewalls compatible with my computer or would it conflict with each other?”
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Clean Registry and Optimize PC
Malware is only one type of virus. The statement was true that the windows firewall can be disabled but malware, but only of you have administrative permissions. It is very effective against most other forms of viruses. If you add Microsoft Security Essentials (free) it adds malware and virus protection.
The best defence for your computer is have a stateful packet inspecting firewall in your router. This will stop all but the malware from entering your network and the security essentials will stop the rest.
You don’t need two firewalls, and yes, they will conflict with each other. Avast is not a firewall, it is just the best antivirus there is. I’m not that crazy about MalwareBytes, but if it works for you, keep it and use it weekly. And I use CCleaner, where you use TFC. None of these are firewalls. And yes, spyware infoforum would recommend that you have NO firewall at all, huh? Guess that should tell you what their intentions are?!?!? No firewall, they can load you up every time you log on.
I ran XP for many years and never used anything but Windows’ XP firewall. I kept my software up to date and loaded all the patches, etc., when they came out. In over 6 years, I never had any virus get past the firewall and Avast, so I guess it works. Read more about it here and trust it. I had a network router that helped prevent this. If you don’t have that, then you definitely need XP’s firewall.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/security/winfirewall.mspx
You can turn the XP firewall off, if you want to, although firewalls shouldn’t conflict.
But, what they’re saying isn’t that true. Normal users DON’T NEED inbound protection on individual systems. Your network is safe from the internet, because your router blocks all connections that shouldn’t be coming in.
While I can’t say with 100% certainty that there will be no problems, I don’t really see why there should be. If you want a free one, ZoneAlarm works pretty well (and supposedly Norton’s free firewall does as well, but don’t keep Norton’s anti-virus on your computer as it is just terrible.) I’m not sure about paid ones however as I haven’t even bothered looking into those.
ZoneAlarm works by basically asking you "YOU WANT GO THROUGH?" As in, anything that tries to access the internet or a secure area of your computer will promptly give you a bubble near your system tray and you can click to either allow or disallow. There’s also a checkbox you can use so that it won’t ask you again for that program. It’ll be a little annoying at first, depending on what/how many programs you have, but later on it should just pop up with new programs or things you don’t want getting in. Plus if you screw up, it’s fairly simple to go in and change your access settings for programs.
Simply put, I like ZoneAlarm for the most part and feel relatively comfortable with it. Although I’m not one of those people that go to every site trudging through the sewers of the internet catching every virus possible, it should suit your needs.