Why use a firewall?

I'm going through a weird phase, where I'm thinking maybe I should go without a firewall. Can anyone tell me what kind of can of worms I'm looking at if I'm a responsible user who rarely uses credit card information online or any other sensitive form of data.

I'd like to think I'm pretty savvy with a computer, those of you on the west coast may be familiar with PC Club. I'm a tech at one of them.

I've been using ZA since version 2.xx, switched to the MS offered EZ firewall awhile back and formatted a few days ago and have been running with no firewall. Nothing. Just NOD32 and ad-aware SE Personal in the way of protection. Not a single problem.

Help! Am I alone? Or:

Can anyone sell me on running a firewall for home computing without just regurgitating the crap that firewall companies throw in your face to get your money?

 

Until SP2, I've never run a software firewall. I hate outgoing protection as well. THats just me.

My DSL modem includes NAT and a hardware firewall.

So long as you keep Windows and your antivirus up to date, its unlikely you will be infected with worms or viruses.

It doesn't hurt to play it safe(r) with a software firewall, though.

 

Right. That's kind of what I was thinking.

I'm just curious if it's more like keeping a firewall on your home on the offchance that it catches fire, because most people go their whole lives without that happening.

Or if it's more like going without a rubber and you will inevitably end up with something you don't want. In that case a performance and convenience hit would probably be okay. Just like above situation. If it is more like the former, then I could go without.

Having NEVER had a virus or problem with "The Hacker Problem" the media is always trying to scare on us, I've become a bit skeptical to the whole "problem".

Thanks for your time.

 

Yeah, you have pretty much voiced my point of view on the issue as well.

For us power users, it just isn't as important because we know what to look for, and how to recover from problems if indeed they do arise.

For the average joe, who isn't meticulous about updates, and such, I reccomend they stick with a firewall without a doubt.