Woried about privacy!! Is it true Winwods FW is soo bad?

I recently discovered whole different world of freeware software (didn't have a time, or serious threat..lol). Me (Vista)and wife (XP) have laptop each. I had TrendMicro with expiration, hers Webroot AV w/AM and free Firewall. She also had Northon scanner (I find out she also had expired TrendMicro full software expired!!!). At the same day my TrendMicro expired, her Northon scanner find out some a lot bad stuff. So, I was thinking about renewing subscription but stumbled on some great reviews about free security software and installed:
-(on Vista) avast! Home edition, and SAS, MBAM, with Windows Defender(it was there already).
-(XP) SAS, MBAM, WOT, SpyBlaster - left WAVAS; uninstalled Norton, TrendMicro (everything!)
I really need your opinion about what Firewall (freeware possibly, other than Windows) has most compatibility for:
-XP (it's runnig with Webroot Firewall, WindowsFirewall disabled?
-Vista (Windows Firewall on)
I really apologize for such a loooooooooooooong Comment, but this is GREAT, knowledgable forum that I trust.

Thank you,
Gor Anilic

P.S. I have linksys Wireless router WCG200 - does it comes with Firewall?

 

try either ZA free, OnlineArmour free, Outpost free or Comodo free

 

The XP windows firewall isn't great since it lacks outbound protection, I still use it on several PC's since I don't actually care about that.

The Vista firewall has outbound protection and works perfectly.

 

Yes, but from what I understand you need to configure it properly to set up outbound access control.

 

You may try those free but excellent software:
1) Antivirus: Avira
2) Firewall & HIPS: Online Armour Free (much more powerful than Windows Firewall and it has a free version!)
3) Browser: Firefox (much safer than the leaky IE. Drive-by malware are really dangerous in these days)
4) Virtualization: Sandboxie (isolate programs which have to connect out, like browsers. Any changes made by this program will not be saved and will be discarded. Very useful!)

 

I remember XP firewall also has outbound protection,but it is not complete.It only can allow or block all connection of a application.

 

XP firewall has no outbound protection. Online Armor free is a good choice, and PC Tools Firewall is also great (maybe even better than OA).

 

As you do with any other firewall, just a little more tedious, which is a trade-off considering it's light and gets the job done perfectly without "marketing frills". KISS forever.

 

BTW you will just need one software firewall per PC.

 

Hello:

You have already received some specific advice here so I won't duplicate that or get into product x vs product y.

Depending upon a users risk profile, they need in my opinion (everybody has one) a layered defense selected from the top publicly tested products.

1) 2 way Software Firewall in combination with a Hardware FW such as a router
2) 1 real time Antivirus product updated daily and used ie scan daily
3) 1 real time Antispyware product updated daily and used ie scan daily
4) HIPS
5) Reliable image based backup and recovery software, backup your data partition daily
6) Password management system


Hope this helps