Try Zone Alarm. It's free and good from Zonelabs
--
This was kicked around on another list I read and the general
conclusion, and these are people who install networks for a living,
is to get the free version of Zone Alarm (Pro version if you just
like to spend $) and keep your Norton up to date. Here is part of
what was said:
===========================================
The first thing to do is to go to
http://www.grc.com and follow the links and
instructions for "Shields Up". This will test your router
firewall. If
most ports come back "stealth" with only a few as "closed" and none
"open" your router firewall is doing its job incoming. Then do the
"LeakTest" to see if its doing its job on outgoing traffic. If
everything tests ok at least you know there are no holes. You
should still also go with a software firewall. In my tests the
Sygate
(
www.sygate.com) and the Norton firewalls do not effect your system
resources as much as Zone Alarm although your system should not be
having a problem with them. I used to run a previous version of
ZoneAlarm on a PIII-450 with no problems.
==========================================
One of the major pluses of a firewall is that you can also control
what
gets OUT of your computer. The router should handle most of the
incoming
stuff, but if a trojan horse or other spyware should happen to get
into
your system, the firewall may well block its attempts to "phone home",
thereby protecting your data and personal security.
============================================
Everything I've ever read says that Microsoft XP's firewall is
almost as bad as
having
nothing, maybe worse since you get a false sense of security.
My personal experience is that it causes more problems than not,
especially on
a home network.
I agree with you on ZoneAlarm, or get Norton's Firewall.
============================================
Buck
