im Devine wrote:
does anyone know anything about windows xp firewalls? Is it possible that my firewall is creating the poor connectivity I have with the internet? how can you tell that a firewall is running (or when it isn't)?
Louis: Check "Security Center" on Control Panel and it will tell you if your firewall is on. It has nothing to do with connectivity and should be used unless you are using a router. the problem I had was with the PC-Tools free firewall, which seemed to show no evidence of its existence except that a window would pop up to indicate that some program was trying to communicate with the net (and ask "is this okay?"). Its bizarre behavior is why I asked about this. I decided to uninstall it, so that currently I have both the official MS Windows firewall and the Comodo Pro free program running. Is there any problem with having two firewall programs running at the same time? Comodo works fine, except that I'm unsure whether it's causing the fact that both Mozilla Firefox and Interned Explorer work for awhile -- and then stop connecting with the web. If I restart the program, it connects again. ravi:
Bring up the Security Center [sic] in the Control Panel, which will tell you the status of the firewall, virus protection, etc. Windows XP has its own built-in firewall but it can be superseded by one that may come with your virus scanner, if you have one.
I had Norton's firewall, but I hate Norton, perhaps more than I hate MS. That's why I brought Comodo in.
It is entirely possible that your firewall is creating poor connectivity -- but first you need to define poor connectivity: dropped link? failed connections? slow?
it's not slow, since I have FIOS. The problem is that neither browse works for more than 10 or 20 webpages before it can't read them any more.
I have heard from more than ten users that Norton's (Symantec?) firewall slows their computer down, but that's still anecdotal.
I had no problem with Norton's firewall. Rather, it was their suite of programs that was the problem -- and their leeching of money. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
