| Quote from: pierre_pierre |
Second point, the Bill Gates firewall only protects against incomming problems, it doesnt stop rogue programs (Or one that came of MAgs) from accessing the internet, or send out numerous e-mails without you knowing, a "Good" firewall does
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The primary purpose of any pesonal firewall is to protect the host system. If you've got something on your PC capable of sending out numerous e-mails, your security has
already been compromised. (How did the rogue program get there in the first place? If your anti-virus software didn't stop it, and it's capable of running as an executable, then if the logged on user has admin priveleges, it can also switch off any of your other defences). With regard to attacks against the host which use outbound connections - the vast majority of these depend on being able to open a connection back in, and Windows Firewall
will prevent this. (Read the information in the Help file).
It may not be as sophisticated as many commercial firewalls, but that does not make it "rubbish".
In the context of the OP's question, yes, it is worth having, and it will offer a reasonable level of defence against most common forms of attack. And yes, it should be enabled as well as having the NAT/firewall defence of the router.
| Quote from: axisofevil |
| Why would you allow a rogue program to be installed in the first place? |
You wouldn't - but you
may be the victim of a zero-day attack, in which case rogue code can be executed - but as I said, such attacks generally depend on being able to open a reverse connection.
