When running a 3rd party firewall (ZoneAlarm), is there any reason to also have the Windows XP firewall running at the same time? Are there any security advantages, or performance issues?

Hi. If you are running zone alarm you have to disable the XP firewall or there will be lots of conflicts. Zone alarm is much better because you have much more control and the Xp firewall does not tell you if there is strange OUTGOING traffic. you need to know what is wanting internet access and server access. By researching the program name that wants access you can find out if it is something you installed or a trojan. Xp will let ANYTHING out.

I had them both running for several hours, using multiple internet programs without any observable conflicts, although I've now disabled the WinXP firewall. I was just wondering whether having both running would give any added protection althoughj I guess it's unlikely that the WinXP wall would catch any incoming traffic that ZoneAlarm let slip

No you wont really get any added protection by running xp firewall and zonealarm. The conflicts happen when xp wants to allow outgoing traffic and zone alarm wants to ask your permission, you will get errors like "vsmon has encountered a problem and has to close" vsmon is part of zonealarm. Added protection lies in having a good antivirus program installed, up to date, and doing regular scans to ensure no viruses, and also scnning anything you download from the net, traded cd's, floppies, etc. AVG offers a good free antivirus prog. If you visit the link below there are several links there for more info on security and virus stuff. http://groups.msn.com/wawadave/wawadavessight.msnw

Running multiple firewalls can add more protection if configured properly. The one in XP is basic, pretty much just watching unused ports. One can run as a proxy server, with the other behind that. However, for more security, use a router as they have a firewall built in plus assign internal IP addresses, so you are no longer directly connected to the outside. The use for such protection is low among home PC's though, and using a local encrypting software for important files is often cheaper and more effective

hello i use both at once for nearly a year no problem other than some sights require cookies and i have to shut down xp fire wall to get in once in reinableing it works. and i had to set it and zap for lan conections just basic since i have had no other problems i will keep it running.with zap