firewall and anti virus question

hi just a bit confused on some things iv been hearing about firewalls
1.i have windows xp2 and am running the norton internet security 06 firewall , but i hear the zonealarm firewall is far better, is there any need to download it and if so will it conflict with norton firewall
2.i'v been given the name of a forum website called <snipped url > so i can download tv progs without a prog eg kazaa,but im unsure of its legitimacy if i was to download the files and scan them with norton a/v would that ensure no virus / spyware would enter my pc thanks for help guys

 

1. Yes, you should not have 2 firewalls installed on your machine at once. If you are happy with your Norton firewall, then there really isn't much need for Zone Alarm. Chances are that it wouldn't install nicely after you've already had a firewall installed, anyway.

2. If you scan any file you download before opening it, then you know that the file isn't infected with any known malicious code. Whether downloading shows is legitimate.................

 

ok thenks mada milty, going to leave firewall as it is and probably do some more research and the safety/security of th3zone, cheers

 

Not strictly speaking true I'm afraid. There are hundreds of new types of malware released into the wild each day, we often see things in the malware forum weeks before the major AV programs can detect them. A scanner can only detect malware it KNOWS about or using heuristic scanning it can scan for virus type behaviour but NO AV program can find ALL threats, thats just impossible (currently )

With the current new smitfraud type infections (amongst others) its actually more likely that not that you will be infected from sites such as those.

In the words of MA "Heres a link to the Malware Forum, your probably going to need it."

 

Heh...that's why I said, "the file isn't infected with any known malicious code"

 

Bleh lol.

What if the file is compressed or encrypted, the KNOWN code won't be visible until its unpacked then at which point its too late

 

Any good AV will scan inside archives! Not too sure if Norton Antivirus does... I would expect it to if I had paid for it...

 

I stand corrected lol