Firewall.(s) question????

First, let me apologise. I am not a mojor geek, but only a very minor lowly geek. My question has come about from changing my ssid on my home router. While doing so, I noticed that I could choose if I wanted the fire wall on the lynksys to be enabled or not. Then when fiddling and bringing up a computer on my network I came acroos a question if I wanted the windows fire-wall enabled or not. Then I got to my zone alarm software and its fire-wall. How many firewalls does one need? And why would any system allow all these redundant fire-walls to be enabled when maybe only one(?) is needed in the first place. Do any of these enron type money making schemes talk to one another, or are they all like marketing hype to get me to buy more and more security?????? Feel free to hit me with the biggest tweaker you can find, but I just don't get it.
You know I have thought that paying for internet security under windows is like going to a bank and saying here is my money, but the bank says we will have to charge you 20 bucks a month to ensure your account's safety. How many people would say stuff it in your ear?

 

Not everyone uses a router. If they don't have one they'll need another firewall. A hardware firewall is better than a software one. Microsoft's built in firewall is just so you don't need to get another one. It does not monitor outbound connections. Whereas some firewalls do.

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks.

You only need one software firewall (XP's built-in, ZoneAlarm etc), as well as one hardware firewall (router etc) if you have one.

There is no advantage, nor should you have, any more installed.