I have some pretty slow systems, and I never noticed a performance
"hit" with ZoneAlarm. (Free version.)
While your ISP "might" be able to protect you from the "outside",
do you really want to totally trust them to be able to do that 100%
of the time and without fail? (I could not get my mail through one
phone number this morning and had to dial a different one that
worked perfectly...)
An often overlooked advantage of a firewall is that it keeps
your computer "in line".
It keeps track of, and controls things "inside" your computer
when they attempt to "call home" or connect to the outside world,
(sometimes when you know "they" should not)... This would include
"Spyware" and "Trojans"...
Better details about this are at: http://www.grc.com in the
"Shields Up" section.
ZoneAlarm is "so good" (and a version is free) that they recently
embarrassed "most" of the larger firewall companies when GRC
came out with the "LeakTest" utility... "Other" firewalls had some
MAJOR holes... You can read all about that at GRC...
The only thing I "would" caution against is running more than one
of this type of program on the same computer... (Check into that...)
I saw another answer dealing with "anonymity". I did not think
a firewall had a whole lot to do with "that"... (Sort of...)
You "have" to have an IP number for the information you "ask" for
to find its way back to you... Being invisible (with closed ports) to
people "trolling" for your system, and being accessible to receive
replies to your ("computers") requests to different sites (etc.) are two
entirely different areas and need to be addressed differently...
That gets into "proxies" and sites you connect "through" that actually
"do" make you anonymous, but not invisible...
And WEB bugs, "cookies", various sorts of scripts and java,
and all sorts of other things...
There is a whole lot more to "privacy" than just a firewall...
"The only truly secure computer is not connected to anything
(other than a monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard)..."
And of course a power source... When do you suppose "they(?)"
will be sneaking in through "there"? <G>
Rick Glazier
From: "Steve and Dara Snyder"
> The recent talk about Firewalls in general and Zone Alarm
> specifically makes me wonder... Does installing a firewall
> on a cable modem affect the performance while browsing,
> downloading files, etc.? If so, is it noticeable?
>
> Also, my ISP (Home.com) uses a proxy/firewall on their network,
> according to their techs, and therefore a personal firewall
> isn't necessary. Anyone believe this statement?
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