Zone Alarm??

Hello all, I just did the Clean Install of Win XP. I had to do it, was tired of Win98se and was really looking forward to XP. Better late than never.. So I have a question. I read some posts here and it sounds to me like I should use my old standby Zone Alarm. I have a Cable internet. I also read that I should deactivate Xp's Firewall?? Where would I do that please.
Well as always thanks in advance to best forums on WWW.
Thank You,
~~Paul

 

XP Firewall

Click Start>>Help and Support.
Type Firewall in the search box.
In the options found, click on "Enable or Disable Internet Connection Firewall.

Follow the instructions shown.

 

PAULDEP--While XP's Windows Firewall is better than no firewall at all, most third party firewalls are better than WF. The main reason is that WF monitors incoming traffic only and not outgoing traffic. ZA has a new free version about two weeks old (v 5.5.62.0).
And everyone recommends running only one firewall.
To disable WF, Start|Control Panel|Windows Firewall|click Off|OK.
You may want download the latest ZA first and then disconnect from the Internet while you do the switch over from WF to ZA. This way you will not have a time without any firewall installed.

 

Thanks Mahumad & WelshJim for the great advice. I'm starting to learn a little more about XP thanks to you both...
~~Paul

 

PAULDEP--You are welcome. Tell us how thing worked out.

 

Dear jim or Mahmud or anyone that can help. I DL and installed the Free Zone Alarms. With ZA set up in Default I wasn't able to get past it to load IE. So I lowered my 'Internet zone Security' from High to Medium. Now my Browser is loading so I can read the sites. Will my PC (Cable) be safe enough? I also am running AVG Free AV 7.0 & always up to date with DL's. Thanks for the help
Paul

 

PAULDEP--I understand you have installed just plain old, free ZA Firewall-- not the versions with other functions, and that you got the latest version (5.5.62.0--earlier versions did have problems with XP SP2). And I assume you have gone to Windows Update for any recent Critical Updates for WinXP.
Are you saying that after installing ZA you could not startup the IE application or that you could not access sites from IE after IE was running? It is a little strange that a firewall should prevent the startup of an application, since firewalls block traffic in and out of a PC. (Again I assume you are not talking about installing IE, which usually does require internet access.)
See if there is any help here
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/xpInfoCenter/faq.jsp
And, as a test, you could disconnect from the internet (just to be sure), disable ZA and see if, indeed, the problem with IE has gone away. That way you could tell if ZA is the culprit or not.

 

I'm sorry Jim,,,I meant that I can't get sites to appear on IE. It started okay, just nothing would come up on the browser (IE6.0) I think that things are okay now though. Thank you, I will let you know how things work out.
I want to wish everyone and their familys a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Those that celebrate it anyway
Thanks again Jim,,
~~Paul

 

PAULDEP--And a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, as well!!