Win XP firewall???

Does anyone know how to properly configure the friggen XP Pro firewall so it will act like ZA pro???

Am i better off just getting a third party one???

Can anyone suggest a descent one???

Hey Lethaldose..
I've only looked at the XP Firewall in very minimal detail, but from what I've seen it sucks...
It only blocks outgoing traffic, so if your computer has stupid ass spyware on it, that will still go out...

I used to use ZA Pro, but then had to uninstall it during a troubleshooting session and it wouldn't re-install...
So I now use Tiny, and its quite nice.. very customizable...
you can get it from www.tinysoftware.com
best of all, its free....

-=-=
They say the best things in life are free..
What about beer¡¿¡¿

but what about fish sticks

they're great yet still require a payment

Tiny and zonealarm are free you don't need to pay unless you want to get the pro version.

The XP firewall does nothing but put your comp into stealth mode. Get a good third-party firewall like they said above. (Tiny for ZoneAlarm.)

I am using xp for about two months in a network.. i found five linux programs that are able to hack a way through the xp firewall it seams to de nothning in particular... installed zonealarm just this week and none of the 5 progs came thrue... brickwall

Realy micro$oftlike to add a useless firewall for socalled security...

Im using BlackIce Defender and it really rocks!! its easy to setup and it keeps u informed about all suspicious traffic.

www.networkice.com

mcihome.. is that the same BlackIce Defender who's makers decided to make the vulnerability detecting app (TooLeaky) that Steve Gibs (I think that's who it was) made not work rather than actually fixing the vulnerability??

DISCLAIMER: The following cut'n pasted article does not necessairly represent the opinion of... me...

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Win-XP firewall defeats Gibson NanoProbes
By Thomas C Greene in Washington

A reader recently told me that the default settings on his Win-XP Pro firewall made him invisible on the Net, at least according to Steve Gibson's ShieldsUp security diagnostic tool. But this isn't what Gibberson is worried about. As we know, he's terrified that Harry Homeowner users will be Trojanized six ways to Sunday by malicious teenagers bent on using their raw sockets to destroy the Internet.

So I installed the XP Home Edition last night and enabled the firewall with default settings only. Then I took a little trip over to GRC and submitted myself to an onslaught of Steve's unimaginably sophisticated NanoProbe Technology.

I could almost feel the Ninja-like power of Steve's NanoProbes assaulting my machine like a million tiny 'vibrating palms'.

And I was shocked, shocked, I tell you, to find that ShieldsUp gave my now explosively deadly Windows box a perfect, 'full stealth' score. This new weapon of mass destruction which I'm typing on is absolutely invisible.

"For all intents and purposes your computer doesn't exist to scanners on the Internet!" Steve explains.

God, what a relief.

So of course, if Steve's 101% pure assembly language scanning engine can't find my machine on the Net, there's absolutely no possibility that some malicious kiddie could do so. And of course, to commandeer an XP box for destructive purposes, the kiddies have to feed the victim a Trojan, or find the machine with a scanning utility.

A really good attack will defeat anything; but Steve's concern, endlessly repeated, is clueless Windows users who don't even know what a firewall is, and who fall victim to the simplest tricks. Now they've got a firewall. It could be better (no outbound filtering), but it will greatly reduce the number of clueless Web surfers getting r00t3d by lame IRC kiddiots.

And, as Steve says, XP boxes 'don't exist' on the Net. Thus the scanning route to destruction is off now -- unless, of course, Steve's ShieldsUp system is just some lame prop he uses to mystify the masses and propagate his bogus legend of technical superiority.

If ShieldsUP is a crap toy, and XP really is a weapon broadcasting its deadly raw sockets to the dark side, then Steve is a fraud. But if the XP firewall really offers 'full stealth' right out of the box, then Steve is a fraud.

So which is it? ®

The Proof
ShieldsUp step one
ShieldsUp step two
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(url: http://www.grcsucks.com/winXP.htm )

Also, Matty, tooleaky is really not a "security community approved" tool... It's actual relevance is widly debated...

Ammo

(PS: I don't want to start a flame war about Gibson, but I do feel that people should take a step back and look at the opposit side of the medal...)

Quote:

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Originally posted by ammo

Also, Matty, tooleaky is really not a "security community approved" tool... It's actual relevance is widly debated...

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Ammo, I really know nothing about TooLeaky or Gibson, as you can tell by my (I think thats who it was)... I just know that TooLeaky got past my FW (ZA) and then my new FW (Tiny)....

As for its relevance, that is questionable.. it does show that there is a large possibility for exploitation via webscripts(Java/Javascript n the others) with certain firewalls (btw, Firewalls are definately not my speciality, but I know computers, and know thats just about anything is possible).....

Yet another sick and twisted Microsoft tale, "protect your family and your computer with Windows XP personal firewall".

The damage that is going to cause.

Millions of users will be wide open with the false sense of security that their XP firewall is protecting them.

An improper or misconfigured firewall is worse than none at all.