At the suggestion of PA Bear, I am opening this thread to get an education on firewalls.I have a Dell Latitude D600 with XP Pro SP3. I was using ZoneAlarms free firewall. Apparently, though, ZA conflicted with my NetGear USB WiFi adapter and kicked me off the network after about an hour (at one place, it totally crashed the machine to a blue screen). At PA Bear's suggestion, I unloaded ZA and enabled the Windows firewall - no more conflicts!But I do miss a couple of other functions I had with ZA: -- visual indication on the task bar of traffic flow -- permit/deny internet access to specific programs -- completely locking out all internet activitySo is there a decent firewall program that provides good firewall protection AND these extra goodies WITHOUT conflicts?Or: Why should I stick with Windows firewall and not look elsewhere for additional functionality?Ed1 person needs an answerI do too

But I do miss a couple of other functions I had with ZA: -- visual indication on the task bar of traffic flow -- permit/deny internet access to specific programs -- completely locking out all internet activitySo is there a decent firewall program that provides good firewall protection AND these extra goodies WITHOUT conflicts? Hi Ed; Whether or not you need a third party firewall or which to use will raise about as many different opinions as which ant--virus is the best.Personally, those warnings you refer to as missing were nothing but a pain in my side when I used ZA. I simply don't need the aggravation of having to click allow or don't allow. I know what I am downloading and/or giving access to prior to initiating the action. If I make a mistake and allow the wrong program then my Avast anti-virus is sufficient to catch it for me.Windows firewall, in my opinion, is sufficient for the average user. Moreover, a properly configured router will provide better protection of your network than any software based application. When I say properly configured I refer to enabling mac filtering for example. Enabling mac filtering will deny access to ANY device not specifically listed by you in the router settings.The link below has a great discussion about router security issues.http://www.windowsbbs.com/networking/25950-router-nat-firewall-discussion.htmlI don't vote for myself I'm not here for the points. If this post helps you, vote. Visit my forum @ http://repairbotsonline.com/

Hi, Joel. Thanks for the response. I liked the alerts becasue there seemed to be a lot of stuff happening in the background that I never knew about. I appreciated being able to see what was happening and kill it. "what do you mean every time I open a file you want to connect to the internet???"The other part is that I use my laptop more in environments where I don't have an internet connection than I do at the coffee shops where I WiFi. I didn't want the constant slow-down of who-knows-what-and-how-many programs making repeated calls for a connection.Router?? All I do is turn on my computer and plug in my USB adapter and connect. (There's a guy at Starbucks almost every day who pulls out three laptops and a buncha other stuff - it's his corner office!) I don't know what I'd do with a router - it's just me and my laptop and Starbucks (or wherever). Ed

Hi, Joel. Thanks for the response. I liked the alerts becasue there seemed to be a lot of stuff happening in the background that I never knew about. I appreciated being able to see what was happening and kill it. "what do you mean every time I open a file you want to connect to the internet???"The other part is that I use my laptop more in environments where I don't have an internet connection than I do at the coffee shops where I WiFi. I didn't want the constant slow-down of who-knows-what-and-how-many programs making repeated calls for a connection.Router?? All I do is turn on my computer and plug in my USB adapter and connect. (There's a guy at Starbucks almost every day who pulls out three laptops and a buncha other stuff - it's his corner office!) I don't know what I'd do with a router - it's just me and my laptop and Starbucks (or wherever). EdHi Ed:If you use your laptop frequently on public networks then a third party firewall is perhaps a good option. I did not detect that from your original post. You should look at the link below for a list of popular options. Comodo, however, would be my choice if I were to use one.http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-firewall.htm I don't vote for myself I'm not here for the points. If this post helps you, vote. Visit my forum @ http://repairbotsonline.com/