windows 7 firewall

[id10x]

hi , i havnt been using any firewalls on xp because i dont surf the net much often
and i didnt want to slow down my internet with it .

but am thinking about what to do in windows 7 . is the integrated firewall any good?
i can always use the zone alarm free edition which means disabling win7 firewall services .

do i really need firewalls at all ? and what do u recommend using if i do ?

i have one on my router also but its disabled by default and i couldnt figure out its
settings so i left it disabled

so far i have only AVG free edition installed and i disabled windows 7 defender

[EzyStvy]

Have you survived without a firewall or did you get killed at some point and now were talking to your ghost

Firewalls don't slow down pc's..

Are your sufing habits going to change?
What's different beside you using a different OS?

[id10x]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy Have you survived without a firewall or did you get killed at some point and now were talking to your ghost

i never noticed any change without a firewall . or with it . i dont think anyone is interested
in attacking my box .

or maybe u are talking to my ghost .

either way i used to use zone alarm but i read somewhere to avoid zone alarm at any cost because it slows the system and the internet .

and also i read that windows xp firewall is useless so i stopped using them all together .

i dont surf i just get games and play and read at game spot and some tech forums
like here . well maybe some wikipedia also . nothing else interest me and i dont think
it will change .

well i used to have my old p4 pc with a 6200 xfx and win xp so i didnt really care
it was slow anyway and it didnt need any more programs

but now i see windows 7 is fast with my hardware and i was thinking of providing
more protection for my new os and hardware . but i can just go without it also
like i did for many years .

[Panama Red]

I'm sure you'll get varying opinions on this one. Personally, I run Win7 on my main desktop machine and leave the Windows Firewall and Defender enabled. And I'm running AVG too. I don't see any lag in response time with this configuration either. Oh, btw, the firewall on my router is enabled too.

[id10x]

why use deffender when u have avg with anti spy ware

its not gonna lag but am gaming on this pc and i am trying to spare as much resorces as i can
for the games .

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by Panama Red I'm sure you'll get varying opinions on this one. Personally, I run Win7 on my main desktop machine and leave the Windows Firewall and Defender enabled. And I'm running AVG too. I don't see any lag in response time with this configuration either. Oh, btw, the firewall on my router is enabled too.

Same for me.


As for using resources, that should be negligible.

Unlike anti-virus, it's much smarter and safer to run more than one anti-spyware program, what one might miss, the other/s pick up. I run 4 anti-spyware programs but it doesn't affect performance on this rig. On my older system when I game, I just disconnect from the net, turn the spyware stuff off and have a blast, game over, turn it all back on, no problems.

[bozo]

Originally Posted by id10x i have one on my router also but its disabled by default and i couldnt figure out its settings so i left it disabled

I would definetly get that enabled. A hardware firewall is the best.

[rwest]

With XP it's not the firewall that slows down the pc, it's service pack two(the fire wall comes with it). Service pack two is huge and has slowed down many pc's that I've seen.

Your surfing habits will tell you how much protedtion you really need. i ran a bare system once just to see how bad things were. No firewall, no antivirus, no spyblocker. But I'm not afraid to wipe an OS drive.

Spyware hit me first. Not sure what site it was. Anyway, I stuck to trused sites, AMD, Intel, this one, NewEgg, Walmart, and a few others. It took about three months for spyware to find me.

I usually run behind a router with firewall on, a free antivirus, and now just one spyware blocker.

[id10x]

ill run the router fire wall . and use AVG as anti virus and spy ware protection .

[id10x]

ok then ill use router fire wall and AVG for virus and spy ware .

here is haw my windows 7 ram and disc usage looks :





is it around average ?

[id10x]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy Have you survived without a firewall or did you get killed at some point and now were talking to your ghost Firewalls don't slow down pc's.. Are your sufing habits going to change? What's different beside you using a different OS?

look at this : my fire wall nat had all my ports stealth without me even knowing about that

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Your Internet connection has no Reverse DNS



GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2010-03-19 at 18:23:58

Results from scan of ports: 0-1055

0 Ports Open
0 Ports Closed
1056 Ports Stealth
---------------------
1056 Ports Tested

ALL PORTS tested were found to be: STEALTH.

TruStealth: PASSED - ALL tested ports were STEALTH,
- NO unsolicited packets were received,
- NO Ping reply (ICMP Echo) was received.

GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2010-03-19 at 18:27:36

Results from scan of ports: 0, 21-23, 25, 79, 80, 110, 113,
119, 135, 139, 143, 389, 443, 445,
1002, 1024-1030, 1720, 5000

0 Ports Open
0 Ports Closed
26 Ports Stealth
---------------------
26 Ports Tested

ALL PORTS tested were found to be: STEALTH.

TruStealth: PASSED - ALL tested ports were STEALTH,
- NO unsolicited packets were received,
- NO Ping reply (ICMP Echo) was received.