Hello people! 
Recently after installed SP2, I’ve noticed a weird message appear in the systray everytime the system starts up. It says: “Your Computer may be in risk. None firewall is activated. Click in this balloon to solve this problem.”. But the message disappear after a couple of seconds…
Have anyone experienced the same situation as me?
PS: Sorry, my Operational System is in Portuguese… ;D
This is not related to avast.
However, do you have any firewall software installed on your computer?
If not firstly enable the Win XP firewall, Windows Control Panel, Windows Firewall. That should give you basic firewall protection and stop the warning. Then I suggest you install a free firewall that will provide outbound firewall protection, which XP’s firewall doesn’t. Zone Alarm has a relatively friendly user interface, I’m not sure if it is available in Portuguese though.
avast! is not a firewall but an antivirus.
Follow David’s advice…
Welcome. Bem-vindo 8)
avast! is not a firewall but an antivirus.Yep, I know that... ;)
Well, lemme see… Before avast is “Fully functional”, I mean before the program loads all of its components, Removable media (such as CD/DVD drives, Floppy Disks), Internet related programs just don’t work. So, I thought Avast somehow was causing this message appear…
But you said this is caused due I don’t have a program Firewall which provide an outbound protection. Unfortunally my Windows XP_SP2 Firewall isn’t that enough. Any advise for a firewall “light” for a computer of 128 RAM? :-[
Hi Night-Walker :
That "message" is from spyware trying to con you into
installing it . I have seen similar reports of newly installed
SP2 getting similar icons in their System Tray(s); try
RIGHT-clicking it, selecting "End", "Terminate" or similar
term. Did you run all your antispyware program(s) PRIOR
to installing SP2, to make sure you were spyware-free,
as is recommended by Microsoft ?
As to a good & FREE firewall, check out Sygate at :
www.filehippo.com/download_sygate_personal_firewall/ .
I find this topic totally confusing. I have just moved from Windows ME to
Windows XP Pro. The new Operating System comes complete with a Microsoft or Windows Firewall. My local Internet cafe told me that if I have two firewalls at the same time it’s as useless as having two umbrellas: I will get soaked.
So do I have to turn off one of the shields in Avast! to let the Windows Firewall work in peace?
avast as has previously been stated isn’t a firewall, the Network Shield provides limited intrusion detection and shouldn’t in any way interfere with a firewall. The Web Shield scans http content and also doesn’t interfere with a firewall.
So there is no need to disable any element of avast.
If your local Internet Cafe were to advise you correctly. then they would tell you the only thing worse than the windows xp firewall, is no firewall at all. The xp firewall doesn’t provide outbound protection, so anything that manages to get past your defences can transmit your personal data, send spam emails, and download more of the same.
There are a number of free firewalls that provide full outbound protection, a forums search for avast and firewall should turn up some threads and polls about firewalls. Zone Alarm free has a reasonably friendly user interface and provides reasonable protection. There are better firewalls but they may not have as friendly a user interface and for some you have to pay.