Firewalls-are they essential or superfluous

[Deuce Bigolo]

Since installing the free version of Zone Alarm a week ago I've supposebly stopped 15,000 somethings from entering or exiting my computer

Sounds good on the surface but the internet speed hasn't change 1 iota
and occasioanlly its stopped me posting replies on this forum(a good thing I hear you smart asses saying) for whatever reason

So is it all a big con.I mean if you have an up to date anti-virus,a decent popup blocker and a search and destroy spyware program what purpose is there in having a firewall.

For the record I'm on a 56k dial-up,anti-norton virus and run adaware & spybot.

So maybe firewalls are more relevant to Broadband than dial-up?

cheers
B....OZ

[Pervert]

When I was using Zone Alarm, I was up to 30,000 blocks, but I think it's only the high priority ones you have to watch out for---roughly about one fifteenth. A good firewall is pretty essential, I'd say---especially as I've known of people who have had their stuff hacked into by lowlife scum.

[Deuce Bigolo]

If you select RUN from the start menu and type in MSCONFIG
and then go to startup-far right you can actually untick the programs that slow your startup down....I've got about 16 of which only 2 are needed to startup

Its what I have done...you can always click on a program later on

Much better IMO

The only purpose i can see firewalls having for us dinosaurs on dialup is stopping adware/spyware from sending back surfing details

cheers
B....OZ