need help with firewall?

Question

right i run a pent ll i use avg,adaware,tune up utilities,malicious software removal too and was using sygate personal firewall which my computer really liked,every thing was running very smoothly that was till i noticed some of sygate had vanished,so was gonna uninstall and reinstall but i found sygate has removed its personal firewall products,my bf suggested avast but its slowing my comp down even more and finding it very frustraiting,i understand all computers come with a built in firewall,what i need to know can my comp run safely with just that firewall or do i need to install another one preferbly a free one.if i need a 2nd one can any one recommend a really good free one thats easy to use as im not a expert when it comes to using computers,please no time wasters only reply if you know what your talking about.

Answer 1

having like 10 different firewalls and anti viruses to keep it safe is similar to the concept of taking 15 medications a day to stay healthy. run a free anti virus, but only when you get one, and run a non intrusive anti spyware every two weeks or so. also, defrag and disk cleanup once a month. non of these will slow down your computer, and your silly data will be no less safe.

Answer 2

Did you remove the Sygate firewall before installing the Avast firewall? DO NOT run two firewalls at the same time! Same for anti-virus programs.

The MS XP firewall will cover your ports (hiding them), but it will not stop anything from going out the back door of your computer. ZoneAlarm is a good, free firewall from Zonelabs.

Answer 3

I use Comodo and it is very good. It is free. You can get both a personal firewall and anti-virus from them. I read recently that you should NOT USE NAME BRAND firewalls and anti-virus since the new nasty software has found ways around them. So this is perfect.