Dear friends:

What should I do with SP2 firewall and Zone Alarm Pro?

I have Zone Alarm Pro installed, and I don't know if it would conflict
with the new SP2 firewall.

Should I use both or disable one of them? And which one?


Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!

You can use both, Juan. If you are on a local area network, you probably
already know you need to program ZA to allow local traffic. The Windows
Firewall will do that automatically for you. ZA tracks outgoing usage,
while the Windows Firewall will alert you when a program is attempting to
open an incoming port, but does not prohibit out-going traffic. Of course,
if you've allowed something into your system, it isn't safe any more.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone


"Juan I. Cahis" <jiclbch@SINBASURAattglobal.net> wrote in message
news:t3n1i0pbnfv4l4hhc0k79a5m4imv66i3e5@4ax.com...
Dear friends:

What should I do with SP2 firewall and Zone Alarm Pro?

I have Zone Alarm Pro installed, and I don't know if it would conflict
with the new SP2 firewall.

Should I use both or disable one of them? And which one?


Thanks
Juan I. Cahis
Santiago de Chile (South America)
Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!

In article <t3n1i0pbnfv4l4hhc0k79a5m4imv66i3e5@4ax.com>, Juan I. Cahis
<jiclbch@SINBASURAattglobal.net> wrote:
>Dear friends:
>
>What should I do with SP2 firewall and Zone Alarm Pro?
>
>I have Zone Alarm Pro installed, and I don't know if it would conflict
>with the new SP2 firewall.
>
>Should I use both or disable one of them? And which one?
>
>
>Thanks
>Juan I. Cahis
>Santiago de Chile (South America)
>Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!

Zone Alarm Pro does everything that SP2's Windows Firewall does, and
more. Disable the SP2 firewall if you use Zone Alarm Pro. If you
enable both of them, the Windows Security Center will give a warning
message and direct you to the topic "Why you should only use one
firewall" in the Help and Support Center. That topic says:

If you have more than one firewall installed on your computer, you
should not have both firewalls turned on at the same time. Two
firewalls turned on at the same time can cause compatibility
problems that result in some programs not working correctly.

It's OK to use a software firewall (like ZA or Windows Firewall) and a
hardware firewall (like a home broadband router) at the same time.
But using two software firewalls isn't OK.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Juan I. Cahis <jiclbch@SINBASURAattglobal.net> wrote in message news:<t3n1i0pbnfv4l4hhc0k79a5m4imv66i3e5@4ax.com>. ..
> Dear friends:
>
> What should I do with SP2 firewall and Zone Alarm Pro?
>
> I have Zone Alarm Pro installed, and I don't know if it would conflict
> with the new SP2 firewall.
>
> Should I use both or disable one of them? And which one?
>
>
> Thanks
> Juan I. Cahis
> Santiago de Chile (South America)
> Note: Please forgive me for my bad English, I am trying to improve it!

Juan,

In my humble opinion (I am not a computer professional or a Windows
expert) you should only use Zone Alarm Pro. A shortcoming of the XP
SP2 firewall seems to be that it does not shield port 139 and it
actually leaves port 445 open. ZA shields both. There might also be
other problems but for me this is reason enough. If you need to verify
this, visit the excellent site www.grc.com and use the "Shields-Up"
utility you can find there.

If I am wrong on this, and there is indeed a good reason why these two
ports remain unshielded under XP's firewall, I would welcome an
explanation.

As for using both, it is not recommended by Microsoft as Steve has
already suggested.

By the way, your English looks just fine to me :-)

Regards,

Longhorn