Any recommendations?
also, should I leave the windows defender firewall switched on?
thanks
Windows XP SP2 firewall, I haven’t heard of windows defender firewall unless they have been playing with the names again.
Whilst the windows XP firewall is usually good at keeping your ports stealthed (hidden) it provides no outbound protection and you should consider a third party firewall.
Any malware that manages to get past your defences will have free reign to connect to the internet to either download more of the same, pass your personal data (sensitive or otherwise, user names, passwords, keylogger retrieved data, etc.) or open a backdoor to your computer, so outbound protection is essential.
- Zone Alarm free http://www.zonelabs.com works fine with avast and has a reasonably friendly user interface. There are others, Comodo, Sunbelt Kerio, Jetico, etc.
See some firewall tests for comparison, some are freeware but many are paid for versions http://www.firewallleaktester.com/tests.php. Also see http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/firewalls.shtml
I’m using Comodo Firewall…works very well with avast! I have no problem at all
I recently replaced Zonealarm free with Sygate personal firewall 5.6. You can download it here: http://www.tucows.com/preview/213160 It has simple, user-friendly userface and it seems to be bit lighter on system resources than Zonealarm, so Sygate is perfect choice for me. So far I haven’t had any problems with it.
sorry i meant the normal windows firewall.
Is Jetico free? I thought you had to pay for it?
Sygate also has a flaw (localhost loopback) in that it can’t detect what is using a localhost proxy, it only detects the proxy, so you give permission to the proxy e.g. web shield or internet mail local proxy, by default anything that uses the proxy will slip right past without challenge. Not to mention it is no longer being developed.
How to disable transparent web shield proxy and allow only those browsers you want use it:
In avast! go to Web Shield provider, Customize…, Basic tab, blank the redirected HTTP port field (remove the 80). Now no browser can use web shield unless you manually configure it to use Web Shield.
The web shield also has an approved programs/browsers list (not available for inspection to users), this should reduce the possibility of an unauthorised program being able to use the proxy but not impossible.
However, none of that will stop something like a trojan spambot using the internet mail proxy unchallenged by Sygate.
Yes Jetico Personal is freeware http://www.jetico.com/jpfirewall.htm
I have used Kerio 2.1.5 with Avast. Although it is an old firewall, and not supported, it still has a following. It has always been light and trouble free for me. Kinda like Avast! 
Best,
Jerry
when i searched on google for ‘avast download’ it came up with this:
http://www.avast-2007.com/index.asp?PID=ed7bdf9c-db4f-487b-90d1-dd68eac77b65
in the advert at the top. (But it just called it Avast-2007). However you have to register and pay for this!
Afterwards i found i could download it from freedownloadscentre.
But a bit misleading isn’t it? What are you paying for? Is it the real Avast?
thanks for replies
No, it isn’t
http://www.avast.com/eng/fraudulent-sales-of-avast-products.html
Avast Home Edition don’t cost anything → http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
Afterwards i found i could download it from freedownloadscentre
Aside from the fraudulent sites information, I think I’ve seen something about the freedownloadscenter, can’t recall if it were some fee but not a payment for a free program. However no matter what you are looking for it is always best to get it direct from the company, etc. and not through a third party. There are obvious exceptions to this like, download.com, snapfiles.com, majorgeeks.com, etc. the major file distribution sources.
It is a shame that some of these crooks actually buy search terms and position in some search engines results.
Zone Alarm is a good firewall. Just a little bit heavy on system resources. It’s also bad for your privacy:
sygate personal firewall is very old…the replacement of this firewall is kerio personal which is pretty good…i prefer comodo though…it works like a charm with avast…
this site will help u http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/security/fwfirewall.html cheers 
Personal Firewall Tests & Results. Firewall rating:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tests-results.php#firewalls-ratings
Freeware firewalls:
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/tests_overview.php
http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/firewalls.shtml
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=22742.0;topicseen