# Router firewall vs Zonealarm?



## GetOutOfBox (Oct 17, 2008)

Hi, I've had Zonealarm Internet Security for about a year now, and I've always noticed how it slows down my internet connection. I know this is to be expected, it examins packets as they enter the computer which is bound to slow down things, I'm not asking how to fix this, I just was thinking though, my ISP assigns dynamic IP's and my computer is not assigned a public IP. The router uses NAT routing to get stuff to me, so people can't remotely connect to my ip (192.168.*.*) unless their mad hackers and are determined to ruin me. I don't host any form of server other than the occasional gaming server, so I dont have more than 2 or 3 ports open, yes I know crackers can still get in through those ports, but the game servers I have don't have root access, so it would be quite a bit of work to get some shell code through my gameing server and install a rootkit, I don't have anything people would want on my computer. So what I'm asking is, will disabling my firewall greatly decrease my security, I know its going to a little bit, but I want more performance. Thanks in advance!


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

I have been useing Windows Firewall on any systm that is behind a firewall router for 5 years now and would never go back to the bothersome third-party firewalls


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## GetOutOfBox (Oct 17, 2008)

ok gotcha, im going to get rid of it. It's an amzing firewall, and has the bonus of stopping trojans from getting outgoing access, but it's not worth it. I have NOD32 and it should catch trojans immediatly as its the highest rated anti malware.


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## alpenadiver (Jul 31, 2007)

That is about the only plus about a third party firewall is that it will let you know about any outbound connections, where windows firewall won't. Anyway windows firewall behind a NAT router is more than adequate for basic internet usage.


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## asgley (Feb 26, 2009)

your network firewall should control both inbound and outbund traffic, then a basic host based firewall to prevent outbreaks are generally ok.
just dont use your machine with admin privs like most people do... fail

Asg


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## gvmsia (Sep 13, 2009)

asgley said:


> just dont use your machine with admin privs like most people do... fail
> 
> Asg


could u pls explain this further? i have xp home with sp3. i create accounts with no admin rights for all who use the pc, but i access my pc as administrator. is that the wrong way to do it? if wrong, can u let me know step by step what to do. thanks


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