Does closing all ports (no listening ports) = no need for firewall?

Ubuntu comes without a firewall since it is preconfigured without any open ports. What about Windows XP? (assuming I am not interested in outbound protection.)

I believe I have closed all my ports (135,137-139,445) because HiJackFree is showing no listening ports. Does this mean all my ports are closed? If so, is my computer safe from other infected computers within the network? Can my computer still be hacked into?

(I am excluding drive-by infections or any other malware/attack caused by going on a malicious website or user error such as opening a virus. I am talking about just connecting your computer to a network (physical or wireless) or connecting to a VPN and leaving it on passively.)


Thank you in advance.

 

Ubuntu does come with a Firewall (iptables).

 

No you do not. I use a firewall just to control outbound traffic. By the way similar topics, which pretty much say the same:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=245354 & https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=224508

 

Closing all ports will block such as unsolicited inbound connections(which is certainly needed for windows services), but what about inbound broadcasts?, and filtering of inbound on current outbound connections?


- Stem