Network Security and Windows Homegroup
 

I recently installed Windows 7 and setup the Network Homegroup with my desktop, a printer and netbook. No problems with the setup and file sharing works ok. Other than the protection on my router, should I be worried about security on the Windows Homegroup ?? I have Zone Alarm running on both the desktop and the netbook.
Thanks.

As long as you have a proper firewall set up with your router then you should be fine. Also unless Zone alarm has really improved over the last couple years I would remove that as it always caused me more problems than it is worth, IMHO. Anyways if you have the router firewall then you shouldn't even need zone alarm.

Thanks. I have Zone Alarm running like a charm - no issues at all. What problems did you have?

Last time i was using ZA, it keeps blocking my steam and i had a problem connecting on the internet. Then again, this was 2+ years ago and i was running XP Pro.

Ever since i ran Vista HP and Win 7 HP, i just used windows firewall and it served me well currently (knock on wood).

Zone Alarm is a piece of steamy crap.

If your using a router you'll be more than fine.

You don't need to worry so much about incoming traffic as outgoing traffic and if you suspect your outgoing traffic to be in trouble then you have bigger problems.

I am keeping an eye on what software I have in my system since I installed Win 7 clean. I might switch back to Kaspersky soon . Looks like there is a proce drop at Future Shop.

What I'm saying is that you don't need a software based firewall if you have a router between you and your internet provider.

They just add overhead that isn't needed.

Give COMODO Internet Security a spin. I originally used just the firewall component with Antvir as my antivirus, but I now use the COMODO security suite exclusively. Great piece of software. No need to buy security software for home use, in my opinion.

Firewall that monitor application outbound traffic is high maintenance and can often cause problems. There are situations where they can augment systems protection against attacks, and years ago they were the only tools available, so arguably using them was worth the trouble. But nowadays there are better things you can use with less potential for causing problems.

Unlike XP, Vista and W7 built-in firewall is capable of filtering outbound traffic -- but it is by default disabled -- so even if you feel you need outbound filtering, e.g., to prevent some apps from automatically phoning home, you don't need to use a third party firewall.

If you are using an AV that actively scans HTTP traffic like Kaspersky, all the traffic may appear to the firewall to be originating from the AV thus rendering application outbound monitoring useless.

For mobile systems such as your netbook, you do want to make sure that you have a firewall running since it may not always be connected to your own private network, Windows firewall is good enough for that.

For desktops systems, I keep the Windows firewall on even though I'm behind a hardware firewall, but others feel that its not needed.

Does the thirdparty software firewall prevent inbound attacks then, or is the combination of a router and the Windows firewall all theat is needed ? This leaves only the need for an anitvirus software..??