how much firewall needed

I have started using firefox only to find it dont get on with zonealarm, after removing zonealarm, and starting winxp home firewall, i started to think how much firewall is necessary...
i am behind a SMC router which has its firewall enabled, i remember a conversation with someone who said a hardware firewall is better than any software firewall.
is there any need for me to run software firewall, have jusat d/loaded sygate personal firewall, but hesitated to install, firstly because of this question, also because i have d/loaded MS anti spyware and noted sygate tackles this problem as well, will running both MS and sygate cause conflicts....

I remember first time i went ion the net about 10 years ago, we did'nt have this problem then, Ah the good old days : )

 

Your questions depends on what you really want to do.

1. A firewall at the border will inspect packets coming into your network and drops the ones you don't allow. Conversely, you can also block traffic outbound as well.. Ie..not allowing telnet to go into the wild. Most people stick with just a border router.

2. Having a firewall at the desktop level would stop potential attacks from within. Say for instance you have several computers inside the LAN and one of them some how becomes compromised. A border router will not stop the other computer from attacking your computer...like a virus. Having a desktop level firewall is another layer of security as well as another layer of administration. The administration part is the other reason why most people stick with just a border firewall/router. Complexity usually warps the mind of the average SOHO user.

WinXP has a built in FW that is pretty decent. It doesn't have all the whistles and bells...but it does work.

In response to MS anti-spyware. This application combats only one leg of insecurity. It doesn't stop viruses. It is looking for...and designed for Anti-Spyware.

IMHO, I am not yet sold on the MS product. While they bought out a reputable company to acquire this software, I have not seen one hit yet after running it for a month. Spybot and Lavasoft caught all kinds of stuff.

Anyway, Sygate is another breed of Firewall that incorporates an application level Intrusion Detection systems. It is very Good, but more complex to tweak than ZoneAlarm. It goes one step further in determining what applications are allowed to run as well as some other stuff.. If you have the time, it's not a bad bet.

Either way, you still need the border router/firewall. Having a desktop level firewall is not a bad thing now-a-days. Keeping your Anit-Virus up-to-date. AND having some sort of Spyware Software...all makes for a good mix.

I don't know about Running both Sygate and MS, but if Sygate also does Anti-Spyware, I'd unload MS

Regards,

Don

 

don

thank you for a great, simple, understandible reply....

Excellent : )