Firewall needed

[janda5]

I need some advice on firewalls. I have an Intel Pentium 3, 1000MHz computer with Windows XP Pro, SP2. I already have a built-in Windows XP firewall but until last week I also had ZoneAlarm installed. Due to a recent conflict with a critical Microsoft update, ZoneAlarm would not allow me to connect to the Internet so that I could download an updated version. So I uninstalled ZoneAlarm and got my connection. Since I surf the Web often, I would like to know if installing a firewall such a ZoneAlarm would interfere with my Windows XP firewall. I believe one cannot have more than one firewall installed. I'm a little confused, though, because I thought my Windows firewall was always ON even when I had ZoneAlarm. Any help is much appreciated. Can anyone recommend a good firewall, perhaps a freebie?
Thank you!

janda5

[PhilliePhan]

Check Point has updated ZoneAlarm to be compatible with KB951748. You can just install the new version, if you like.

-- You are correct. You should not have more than ONE active software firewall. By default, ZA is set to disable the Windows Firewall upon installation. When you removed ZA, you should have seen a security center popup saying your compy was at risk due to no firewall being active. You should check Security Center and verify.....

-- Frankly, I am leaning more and more toward replacing ZA with Comodo as I believe it is a better option. You might want to check that out:
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Cheers :)
PP

[crunchie]

+1 for Comodo