# Zone Alarm vs XP firewall

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zone-alarm-vs-xp-firewall/196848>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 22, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zone-alarm-vs-xp-firewall/196848 "2003-08-22T02:58:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zone-alarm-vs-xp-firewall/196848/1 "2003-08-22T02:58:52Z")

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Simple (I hope) question.

Do I still need my Zone Alarm firewall software running now that I have XP with its included firewall? I’m really not too keen on trusting Microsoft security, but did they get this right?

FTR, I have a cable modem and don’t do too much “high risk” internet activities, just surfing and the occasional download.

Thanks for any input

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zone-alarm-vs-xp-firewall/196848/2 "2003-08-22T03:07:42Z")

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Personally, I prefer ZoneAlarm. But I have no cites to back this up. I find it to be more informative, though I have not tested it for effectiveness, they way I tested ZoneAlarm when I first got it when I had Win98 before I migrated to XP Pro.

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**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zone-alarm-vs-xp-firewall/196848/3 "2003-08-22T06:18:03Z")

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xp firewall don’t have any options, while you can control a program’s internet access rights with zonealarm.

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**Author:** ![spanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@spanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spanna)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zone-alarm-vs-xp-firewall/196848/4 "2003-08-22T07:08:46Z")

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Zone Alarm will also detect windows dialing out, whereas I guess XP would not care.

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**Author:** ![Jake4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Jake4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake4)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zone-alarm-vs-xp-firewall/196848/5 "2003-08-22T07:34:00Z")

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Use ZoneAlarm. It is infinitely better than XP’s firewall. From Steve Gibson’s [page on firewalls](http://grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm):

> [@](#):
>
> Just so you know, WinXP’s built-in firewall does not attempt to manage or restrict outbound connections at all. It appears to be a useful firewall for hiding the machine from the Internet (it has “stealth mode” unsolicited packet handling), but you will still need to use a good third-party personal firewall if you wish to manage and control outbound connections from your system.

You should want to manage and control outbound connections from your system. Don’t even turn the XP firewall on.

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**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zone-alarm-vs-xp-firewall/196848/6 "2003-08-29T04:22:57Z")

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Sorry for the delay, and I hate to bump this, but I like to acknowledge people who’ve responded to my questions.

Thanks to all who responded.