How many firewalls should we used ?

[SingSing]

1. My Comcast said they have firewall on their cable boardband.

2. My Netgear router said it has a firewall in there.

3. Windows XP offers a firewall.

4. McAfee want to add another firewall.

Won't the first two firewalls good enough ?

[lordsmurf]

Hardware firewalls are more for keeping bad traffic from coming in (hackers).
Software firewalls are more for keeping bad traffic from going out (spyware, snitch software, "phone home", etc)

[guns1inger]

Just remember that the more you run, the more careful you have to be that all the rules line up. Otherwise trouble shooting is a bitch.

Comcast's firewall will not do a lot to protect you, the consumer. It may keep out common nasties, but it won't protect your machine from deliberate attack.

Personally, I would run only one software firewall (and neither of those - Windows FW is too basic, McAfee is too resource hungry) otherwise you will end up chasing your tail if something gets blocked.

[Kaugustino]

I would just use the netgear router and some kind of software firewall for extra protection. I wouldnt use Mcafee as its to much of a resorces hog. If your using it for a antivirus i would use something else. Like AVG

[johns0]

Sygate for firewall and avast for virus scanner,disable windows firewall,dump mcafee.

[lordsmurf]

I like the Kerio firewall. Only $20, used it for years
http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Home-Home-Office/Sunbelt-Personal-Firewall/

[AlanHK]

I wouldn't trust the ISP's firewall to do anythng useful; maybe it tries to stop you going to "naughty" sites.

I use an old, free, version of ZoneAlarm that seems effective,
I have a router and that stops a lot of crap -- after I started using it I noticed that ZoneAlarm's log went from one suspicious probe every minute to almost zero.

Windows firewall is useless. Just turn it off if you have any other.

[stiltman]

PIX or ASA that's all ya need

Comcast's firewall does nothing...100% nothing. It's for their use and metering

Netgear/Linksys are mostly for NAT, as they will let most everything through

Windows built-in is close to useless for the normal user

[Dv8ted2]

You need to configure the firewall in the Netgear router. The router has a powerful firewall that can be configured in all sorts of ways, such as blocking ping requests, blocking certain websites and blocking access to certain computers.

The Windows firewall is basic in nature but if properly configured, it could be a powerful ally.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I use 2 and 3, my wireless router firewall and XP firewall do a good job.
As long as you update XP regularly and use a good AV program with realtime protection you are protected.

[Noahtuck]

[Dv8ted2]

That is pretty funny, but it is a basic firewall. I recommend a combination of a router that has stateful packet inspection(SPI) capability and a software firewall. To bemore safe, you would choose a firewall that does deep packet inspection. (DPI) Defense in layers is often the best approach, but the more complicated the rules, the more administration time is needed.

[pattirose]

hahaha! thank you for my first laugh of the day!