Windows XP Firewall

[John Barnett - MVP]

If you have used the New connection wizard to connect to
the Internet the XP firewall is already active. An easy
way to find out is click the dial up network icons in the
system tray the next time you are logged on and when the
status window appears click the Properties button to the
left of the disconnect button. In the properties window
click the Advanced tab. At the top of the properties
window there is a section marked Internet Connection
Firewall. You will also see a check box with 'protect my
connection and network........' option. If the box is
ticked then your firewall is active. If it is not ticked
then your firewall is inactive.
XP's firewall is pretty basic, but it does the job. That
is until it refuses access to a particular port. It is
then that the fun starts. Another problem is, it is not
very user friendly. I much prefer Zone Alarm. This is
certainly more user friendly and you are prompted for
your permission when an application wants to access the
internet. So you know just what is accessing the
internet. It even provides pop ups when someone tires to
hack into your pc. They are a pain, but are easily
disabled. Download the 'free' version from
www.zonelabs.com and take it for a test drive. Remember
to disable the XP firewall though before installing Zone
Alarm.

Hope this helps

John Barnett - MVP
Associate expert
>-----Original Message-----
>How do I activate the Windows XP Firewall and is it a
good idea to activite
>it? Thanks.
>
>--
>Karen
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