Zonealarm is by FAR the better firewall.
M/S ICF only protects against inbound attacks and AFAIK
does not protect against e-mail worms propagating.

Z/A protects against outbound problems by flagging attempts
by programs to access the net, and flagging attempts to mass
e-mail. It is also easier, IMO, to set up and manage since
all the settings are readily visible.

ICF can be turned off, but if you do NOT have a hardware
firewall (and everyone SHOULD!!) two walls are better than
one since an attacker would have to compromise both to get
through.

For expert review of the various software firewalls, check out
Gibson Research Corp.
http://www.grc.com/
which also has page for banging on your firewall to confirm
it's security.

Robert

Carlos A. Marcano V. wrote:
> I am downloading WinXP SP2 (slow download because I=B4m on dial-up!). I=
=20
> know that it implements a firewall for XP, my question is for some of=20
> you that had already played with it: is it good? I downloaded Zone Alar=
m=20
> free edition but haven=B4t installed it yet, I dont want to have two=20
> redundant applications (not everywhere redundant is better, isnt=B4it?)=
 so=20
>   I wonder if I should only use winXP SP2 firewall, or if there is a wa=
y=20
> to disabled it (I think there should be) and use Zone Alarm instead. I=20
> also run AVG free edition for anti virus, Mozilla Firefox for web=20
> browsing, Mozilla Thunderbird as email client,Spybot Search & Destroy,=20
> Ad-aware SE, Spywareblaster, Spywareguard and Partition Magic 7.0, just=
=20
> in case anybody had heard of any incompatibility issues that would like=
=20
> to share. This is all in a very recent fresh install of Windows Xp=20
> Professional (or as purists would like to say: Microsoft Windows 5.1=20
> Build 2600.xpsp2_gdr.040517-1325: Service Pack). Thanks for any help,=20
> and sorry for being so bothering...
>=20
> Regards,
>=20
> *Carlos Marcano*
> -Guri, Venezuela-
>=20
>=20
_______________________________________________
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist