Is the windows firewall good enough?

I'm wondering if the windwos firewall is good enough to use just like the OS X one is? Also are there free antivirus or firewall programs available that will run on the mac while it is running windows XP?

 

After you install bootcamp, a Mac becomes just another Windows machine. So this might not be the best forum for asking windows specific questions. I use hardware firewall, so I don't have to rely on windows'. XP and SP1's firewall were close to useless, but I guess SP2's have improved it by a large amount. Avast and AVG are good enough free antivirus if you ask me.

 

lol PM the mods see if we can move this thread to Windows forum.

Anyway, there are a couple of free firewalls that is wayy better than XP's own firewall, such as the Zonelab's ZoneAlarm.

Personally i use XP's firewall (i know there are drawbacks such as no outbound filtering etc) but i'm a person who strips out any resource eating software from my laptop. Windows Firewall seems to be doing a good job too. Third party firewalls are not my type.

 

I do not recommend a 3rd party firewall. They are unnecessary and provide little value considering the resources they consume and the fact that they can be turned off, or simply gone around. They may tell you if you are infected, but then it's too late. The idea is not to get infected in the first place. Use a hardware firewall(router) and turn on the Windows Firewall. That combined with a decent AV and good habits should more than protect you.

And this is going to the windows forum...

 

And remember the number one biggest variable is your surfing habits

I dunno if its been fixed, but I read the Windows firewall does not filter outgoing traffic; i.e. software already installed. Saying that, using a hardware solution and then the default windows firewall is good advice