The conventional, conservative, wisdom is to install a software firewall on any computer connected to the internet. Hardware firewalls are very good at preventing inbound attacks, while software firewalls such as ZA also monitor potentially harmful outbound traffic. Installing SP2 may give you additional protection, although ZA will disable the SP2 firewall if installed. **************************************************************************** ********************************* Hello; I appreciate the time you guys take to help us out. I just connected two computers to a "D-Lynk" router(DI 604, to be exact). One computer runs on ME, the other is XP- without sp2 download. And both run off cable modem broadband(roadrunner). My question is prior to connecting to the router, my ME computer has Zone Alarm firewall software. With the hardware firewall that the router provides, is it redundant to keep the software firewall or "it can't hurt"? The second PC,on XP, has no firewall software-only what the router provides. Is that adequate? The NOSPIN Group is now accepting donatations to continue providing PCSOFT and our website. Visit http://freepctech.com to donate using Paypal