Emie wrote:

> A customer with P4 2.4GHz system has both Zone Alarm and WinXP/Home
> firewalls activated.  He's experiencing problems with his Internet
> activities (typical when ZA blocks incoming signal from accessing his
> System.)  I can make adjustments to his ZA security settings but I thought
> one firewall is enough for a System, or is it?  How good and reliable is
> XP's FW versus ZA's FW?  Is installing ZA to XP (Home or Pro) an overkill?
> I'm trying to convince a customer that the root of his problems is, he has
> both firewalls running.  I would appreciate inputs to this subject.  TIA.
> (Oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving Day to *all* PCSoft Listers!!)
>
> Emie DelRosario
>
>                The NOSPIN Group Promotions is now offering
>               Mandrake Linux or Red Hat Linux CD sets along
>              with the OpenOffice CD...  at a great price!!!
>              http://freepctech.com/goodies/promotions.shtml
>
>
While Dean Kelly's answer was great (the customer assists with
determining which FW is better) there is something missing with the
XPFW. Yes, it blocks inbounds but it cannot block an outbound. If a
trojan got in, the XPFW has no features to prevent it from sending
something out, whereas ZA is designed to prevent an outbound unless it
is already identified by you as being authorized or it pops up a message
window stating that "'trojan 123.exe' is trying to access the internet.
Do you grant access?" Then the customer will know that something illegal
is trying to transmit out into the net. Most likely, there is a conflict
  occurring with both FWs active, but according to all of the write-ups
I've read, it is recommended to turn off the XP FW if you have ZA.

Just my 2 cents.

Jean Bourvic

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