Do I really need a software firewall?

[Big-Gaz]

Hi,

I have a router (Netgear WNR-2000)
Do I really need a software firewall?

[Druchii]

Voted yes.

What if some nasty software gets onto your machine? How are you going to know it's sending information Outwards without a software firewall?

[bopdude]

Interesting, I always thought a router acted as a hardware firewall so have never bothered with a software version, I'll watch this thread closely.

[Kymmy]

A router using NAT is only ever good for stopping incoming threats, with a firewall you can stop lets say a botnet from gaining instructions from a 3rd party site or a trojan from sending out it's list of passwords

[*sloman*]

I have both for the reason Kymmy said above. Hardware firewall will block ports and bits of traffic it thinks might be suspicious but what if you have a trojan using port 80 or 119 you would never know anything is there until its to late.

[Aragorn]

Yes, but Vista's built-in firewall should be sufficient - no need to spend money on one, imo.

[Hugh]

There are lots of good free ones out there, such as Comodo (which I use).

A trojan is a virus a good AV should flag an virus incoming onto the machine. It should also flag whatever is carrying the Trojan when you come to try and install it. Malware some AV's will not flag these can be run and turn off AV but some can also turn off a Firewall.

IMO as long as you keep a good AV upto date on your pc and are careful about what you download and install on your system and run anti malware scan every now and again you should be ok.

I run a hardware firewall in my router and I leave windows firewall on in Vista and it does work with outgoing and there is an app that just runs using that called Vista firewall control iirc.

The only Virus thats infected my system was an exploit on a site which run when it crashed an adobe plug in(which I no longer run) which allowed its installation. This virus did not install quietly as my AV flagged it but couldnt stop it so I knew it was there and had to format which would have had the same effect if I had a firewall anyway

I wonder how many people run a firewall and leave vistas/xps on possibly causing conflict and leaving them less protected as they think

I voted no but really it means no to an extra firewall

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

A trojan is a virus a good AV should flag an virus incoming onto the machine. It should also flag whatever is carrying the Trojan when you come to try and install it. Malware some AV's will not flag these can be run and turn off AV but some can also turn off a Firewall.

IMO as long as you keep a good AV upto date on your pc and are careful about what you download and install on your system and run anti malware scan every now and again you should be ok.

Although whether you should rely on your AV to detect any viruses depends on whether you have a good AV. Ask Rob. He had an up-to-date copy of Panda and a trojan still got through.

Although in that case, a firewall would not have helped. It may have popped up a query asking if the program should acess the network, but seeing as the program in question was disguised as a speed tester, in all likelyhood, Rob would have answered yes.

[SnoopZ]

My view is it's always best to have a software firewall as well as a hardware router, so you get application control.

[Delta Whiskey]

I use a software firewall to see what programs are trying to call home. Up till now I used Zonealarm, but recently moved to Comodo Internet Security (free version) which incorporates a firewall, anti-virus & BOClean malware cleaner.

[SnoopZ]

Comodo is an excellent free firewall, i use it too.

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Although whether you should rely on your AV to detect any viruses depends on whether you have a good AV. Ask Rob. He had an up-to-date copy of Panda and a trojan still got through.

Although in that case, a firewall would not have helped. It may have popped up a query asking if the program should acess the network, but seeing as the program in question was disguised as a speed tester, in all likelyhood, Rob would have answered yes.

A virus has to be run or opened or executed to allow an install like what happened to Kymmy the other day. A firewall is not going to stop that happening it will just flag that the virus is trying to call home. A good virus will disable the firewall and any existing AV meaning you are unprotected due to the running of the Virus.

[Kymmy]

Any virus though inside of a bespoke installer package will NOT be found by an AV.. My AV found the trojan but the installer had already messed up the group policies making the system restric my own access.. No firewall or AV would stop that in the end it was down to my common sense that let the installer do the nasty..

A firewall is needed but it just has to be the simple windows one.. An AV is needed but again they're not foolproof.. The same with Spyware/adware scanners..

I'm sure that Zing will concur that the best protection you have against intrusions and virii is quite simply yourself... The AV/FW is just there to stop the ones you missed

[Raistlin]

Answer to this question = yes.

The router firewall provides NAT and therefore only protects you against inbound attacks. A software firewall that protects against information, data, or application, egress is pretty much essential as well.

If you have more than one machine on your LAN a software firewall installed on each will also help to protect against cross-contamination should the worst occur.

---------- Post added at 11:00 ---------- Previous post was at 10:57 ----------

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Any virus though inside of a bespoke installer package will NOT be found by an AV..

Agreed, I can put together something now that contains a well known virus that will not be picked up by your AV if scanned (note.....I won't be doing so though ).

At the end of the day your AV is only looking at signatures, or possibly heuristics, both of which can be fudged.