XP QUESTION

I have Zone Alarm on my pc at home and Windows XP professional. I just installed a 512 DDR PC2700 memory card in my computer and I now have over 600mb of memory. My computer should be running fast, but it doesnt all the time. My friend said that it may be the Zone Alarm program that is holding the PC back. Has anyone ever had this happen to them, and is it true that XP has a firewall built in? If so do you think i need the zone alarm, or is it a waste of space?
Thanks,
Scott

I definitely think that Zone Alarm (free version) slows my PC (also running XP) down but I haven't done anything about it. I spoke with someone who is running the XP built in firewall and I believe she likes it - she just said Zone Alarm made her feel a little safer because she liked seeing what it was doing - as far as the prompts and stuff...she said with Xp she doesn't see a thing - totally in the background. Now that you mentioned it I should inquire more about it - but I am an IT person by day- and when it comes to my home PC I don't take the care I should.

Also - Adding memory should increase performance on your PC if that is the bottleneck. There could be other things on your PC that can be causing problems and that adding memory will not necessarily fix.

XP does have built firewll but its default setting is disabled. Zone Alarm is a nice program...i rather have hardware based firewall (a router)

do you have a router?

As for memory, you will see memory in affect more and more when you use applications that can utlize that amount of memory.

I remember you had a cpu issue a few weeks ago. You may of mention your computer was 2 or 3 yrs old (i forget)

if that is the case, buying pc2700 will not enchance your speeds. You mobo needs to support that speed on memory... that may be the issue

I had to upgrade my mother board to a ASUS, and I now have a 2.4 chip. The guy that did the install gave me a PC2100 128mb chip, and the pc was very clow. Now with the DDR PC2700 the computer flies, except when it comes down to going online. I am thinking of disabling my Zone Alarm and see if there is any difference in performance. One of my friends was telling me to install Peer Guardian. He said it is a much better program and I will not experience any lag at all.

By the way, I have the full Zone Alarm program on my pc....not just the free download.

How do you enable Windows XP's Firewall?

right click and bring up properties of you Network card... (right click - properites on my networks)

the last tab on your network card should be firewall...(can't verfiy cause work comp has it disabled)

so that was no for a router?

I wouldn't fool around with the built-in firewall settings on XP unless you know what you are doing.

A better investment would be to buy a cheap cable/broadband router. Then you can share your internet connection if you ever want to add a second computer.

Or you can do what I did and buy a wireless router and if you have a laptop you can browse the net wirelessly. Just be careful that if you have a wireless router... you secure it with encryption. If you don't you can have people poking around your network (say from the house or apartment next door). ;)

Well the whole idea of a router is having HARDWARE based protection. Meaning... the router pretty much does all the blocking any zone alarm or mcafee firewall does. Yet with the router... you don't have to install any software that will clutter up your PC. The router acts independently of your system. You already have one piece of software on there. Now you want to add a second.

Not good advice IMO... but hey to each their own. Let us know if McAfee does any better. Just make sure you don't have both Zone Alarm and McAfee running at the same time.

Hardware firewll > any software firewall put together...

i agree..xp firewall is a bit touchy feely and have to open the right ports to access certain features like AIM, HTTP, NTTP, etc... can be a pain (i tried it once and hated it)

router is like 40 bucks these days.. and the best part is...by defult as soon as you plug it in, it's good to go.

i would look into it if you are thinking about purchasing more software...

of cousre, you are still gonna to need ad-ware protection and others..

i recommend spybot S & D w/ another program (i forget name)..

the two of these programs but together (differenent companies that recommend using them in conjunction) has been proven to be the best protection angainst trojans, spyware..etc

LOL... and on top of that I recommend 'abstinence' !!!!

Meaning.... DON'T install any software on your PC unless its ABSOLUTELY necessary!

Yeah that cool game your friend emailed you might be fun to play for about an hour... but it probably also comes with a dozen back-doors... a ton of spyware... and maybe even a virus or two if your lucky.

Yeah a computer is meant to have fun on... but you have to learn to draw the line between 'fun' computing and 'safe' computing.

People always ask me how I do it. I never get spam (period), I never get pop-ups (unless they come from a website), and my computer runs very fast. Thats because I don't load any garbage on my PC and I don't post my email address on any websites. Even this website doesn't have my real everyday email address.

My mom called me once saying her PC was soooooo slow. I came over and she had like over fifty programs she loaded on there herself. Most of it either junk, or known PC killers. Screen savers, Webshots, Kazaa, etc etc etc. You name it... she had it. I wiped her PC clean... did a fresh re-install and it ran 10x faster. She couldn't believe it. Didn't have to spend a dime on RAM, CPU, MB, nada.

I have to add a vote for a hardware router - I wouldn't give mine up for ANYTHING! What's great is that if you have cable modem or DSL and more than one computer it will split up the traffic automatically - you don't have to do anything, and all the computers can have internet.

My computer sounds a lot like yours, DjPiLL - I'm VERY careful about what I install and who I give out my (real) email address to. I don't get spam, I don't get popups, and my computer runs nice and fast. Always.


(I also format my computer and start fresh every six months or so, though that isn't really for most people hehe)

Ophelia42: Thats definitely the way to do it! People look at me funny when I say I re-install every 6-9 months. But it works!

And hey... I have to set a good example since this is what I do for a living. Well I don't do PC support anymore... I am a network engineer now... but I still help out friends and such with their PCs.

Well last night I took the 128mb card out of my computer and I uninstalled Zone Alarm. I also enabled the windows XP firewall. Should I disable it again? Now that I hear it is a pain in the neck to use. I bought a wired router. I bought this one: D-Link DI-604 - 4-Port Cable/DSL Router
From buy.com. I downloaded http://download.com.com/3000-2092-10247416.html?tag=lst-0-5 until I get my router in the mail. As soon as i get it, should I uninstall the firewall that I installed and just keep the router and/or windows XP firewall or should I keep it on the computer also?
Thanks,
Scott

Hook up the router, get it working with your computer.

You should then uninstall Zone Alarm... uninstall McAfee Firewall if you put that on. Disable Windows XP Firewall.

You will be pretty happy with your router. They are very practical... many people have them. And they offer the best protection for your computer.. better than any software will.

Just make sure you continue to do all your windows critical updates! Very important!

If your computer is still running mad slow... after all this then you have a corrupted OS probably. Did you do a complete reinstall of Windows XP after you changed the MB? If you didn't... you are definitely asking for issues and I am surprised your computer is still working now.

I would get rid of zone alarm. I had the same problem. I decided to buy Norton's system works , and firewall. My computer runs great. I hope this helps.