Need firewall advice for Windows 8

A year ago I bought a new desktop. Windows 8.1 pro 64 bit.

With my old system (XP) I had Online Armor paid version. Great fw but many popups.

How good is inbuilt Windows 8 firewall? I may choose another one but not sure. I may need one because Im gonna use a VPN and some suggest I cannot trust VPN softwares kill switc. Im sure I can use Windows FW but I guess there are more userfriendly options.

I dont run any other security at the moment. Maybe a strong FW with HIPS is a good choice? Or is it overkill? Windwos 8 must be a lot safer than my old XP?

Is Comodo FW userfriendly? More userfriendly than Online Armor? It could be good for me because I also have a laptop running Windows 7 since it is a free FW. Would not have to buy 2 firewalls.

 

The Windows 8 inbuilt firewall is good, but doesn't provide a ton of outbound protection by default. If you're concerned about that, OA is a good option for Win8.1, and so is Outpost.

As an aside, you're correct: Win8 is significantly more secure by default than XP