before connecting my new PC to Cable Internet,should I turn on XP Firewall, then AVG and then Zonealarm?

Question

I have to connect to the Internet first, since my old PC has no CD Burner, therefore I have to download all security apps online.I guess after downloading ZoneAlarm I get rid of the XP Firewall.One more thing, should I download AVG before ZoneAlarm?
Any Help would be greatly appreciated,
Thank you,
Gus
PS: New PC is HP Pavilion Media Center a1520n
Athlon 64 x2 3800+ 2 GHz

thanks for your answers so far. Just read some not so nice stories about ZoneAlarm Free. How is Kerio's Personal Firewall? Or any other? Please let me know.
Thanks,
Gus

Answer 1

Congrats on the new pc. If it were me, I'd download the AVG anti-virus and the Zone Alarm firewall, and disable the Windows firewall. Contrary to a previous answer, Windows firewall is NOT the same as the Zone Alarm. Zone Alarm protects both incoming AND outgoing transmissions.....the Windows firewall only protects against incoming. See below link for info.

Answer 2

A firewall is a firewall, the windows firewall is as good as any. Turning it off doesn't actually turn it off, the service that runs it does other things too so it just chages the firewall rules to "Allow All". What's the point of running two firewalls?

Open Computer Management -> Sevices and Applications -> Services. Look at the Application Layer Gateway Service. Even though you've turned off the Windows Firewall and you're not using any Internet Connection Sharing the service that runs them is still running.

Yes, anti virus should be a top priority as should all the updates available from Microsoft.

Answer 3

Yes, you can activate these before connecting to the internet, however, when you are finished, I strongly suggest you run your antivirus program immediately -- just in case.

WindowsXP firewall is good; you cannot run two at any one time. Two would fight each other and you would go nowhere. Been there, done that.

Answer 4

hi, perhaps you can try Norton to remove the virus and protect your PC. but you need to pay for the software.

i recommand you to use firefox with Google toolbar. firefox can disable all virus to run, because the virus can only run on IE.

besides, firefox can block any any poppus and disable any virus and adware, spyware on webpage, so, firefox is much safer than IE. as you know, most of the virus is spread throught internet and webpage.

firefox is much smaller than IE, so i run faster than IE.

download firefox for free:

http://www.bernanke.cn/firefox/

Best Wishes && Good Luck!