I have a dial up modem connection. Do I really need Firewall protection ? I have the XP one running. Androo

One thing to keep in mind about XP's native firewall is that it only monitors in-coming connections. A good software firewall will monitor both directions. This can be helpful in the event that you ever get a trojan horse on your computer. You can block those outgoing transmissions that a trojan horse will make. There are some good firewalls available as freeware or shareware. Regarding dialup connection... That's what I have and I wouldn't connect to the internet without a good firewall installed. Just my opinion, JB.

The XP firewall blocks incoming traffic, but does nothing about outgoing traffic. That is the main difference between a software firewall like Sygate, Kerio, Outpost, Zone Alarm, that are all free that block both incoming and outgoing traffic. The XP firewall will pass most steath tests for incoming traffic, so you definitely have some protection. Using the another firewall program will offer you the extra protection, in case you have picked up a trojan.

XP one is not very good. Only blocks one direction and does not report the intrusions.... or so I have read on this site. A free and possibly better one is Zonealarm from... www.zonelabs.com There are other free ones also.

As the others said, the XP firewall is not so good. If you don't have a firewall (besides XP), and you manage to get a trojan or worm, like the W-Blaster worm, your computer can be used in a denial of service attack. The worm or trojan gets in and sends packets out to the internet to where ever. Spyware too, if you get spyware on your machine, without a firewall there is nothing to keep it from phoning home and relaying information from your computer. So yes, if you surf the web, you need a firewall, and something better than the one that comes with XP. If you get another firewall, then you should disable the XP firewall so there is no conflict.

covadonga, Well everyone has properly dissed the bundled XP FW, so I'll spare you that & answer the other aspect of your query: Yes, probably even on dial-up. You're correct in that dial-up connections are far less appealing to malware creators and, to a certain extent, you are deliberately left off their radar screen. So ... - If your internet exposure is limited to email, a few google searches, & a monthly purchase or two - And your hardware is already overtaxed and sluggish due to an OS upgrade - And you religiously scan your system with good AV + spyware + trojan tools - And your user data is regularily backed-up - And you first on your block to apply the patches from MS then, no, you don't need a FireWall - or at least could be justified in opting to not use one. Especially if you are the sort who maintains distibution files of all your software & can quickly & easily restore &/or rebuild a damaged system. But I just discribed a very rare user. Unless this is you, get a good firewall. FWs do exact substantial overhead: enough to be more than a little noticable on older machines. If the extra taxation of a FW proves unpleasant then post a new thread in these forums asking how to reduce the resource load fromother parts of your system. - Jonathan

dont matter how slow your conection is you can still be hacted.just be cause the odds are down there not gone. a script can hack you as easy as a live person if your vunerable. have a nice day