XP Firewall

I know that Windows Firewall does not block outgoing traffic, but other than that, is there anything that makes it less secure than a commercial firewall (free or paid)?

If one's system is clean, then is there any reason to worry about outgoing traffic?

PK

 

XP's firewall is the only one I use. If you know what you are downloading & not allowing everything to install on your system then for me it's OK.

I get boxes popping up anyway when I start a game. The firewall wants to know if it is OK to let it out.

 

I found, when I went to a firewall test site, that the XP firewall was leaving one port open, I think it was 1025. I tried various thing to try and close it, then I stumbled on to one that works. I used the program xpy to disable the firewall/connection sharing service, then re-enabled the firewall via the security center popup that appears when you disable the firewall. This closes the port for the session, you have to do this again after you reboot.

If you want to test your firewall, here's a good place to do it: Seifried Security Scan.