Security question if anyone will answer....

[VMX_krazyman821]

I've been reluctant to to the XP SP2 update,some guys at work said it has been a real pain in the butt.
Should I install this update and if I do,what should I expect as far as interfering with online activities or gaming or anything for that matter?   I once had Norton installed and the firewall wreaked havoc!I dont like firewalls.Last,I am not running Norton or Mcaffee and would like to use something.Any suggestions?I did not like Norton too much because I could not uninstall it.Any help,as always,is greatly appreciated.

[Bulldog]

Here's how I see it....being a Systems Administrator....

For a home user....Install it!  The firewall is a great addition and is pretty simple to configure.  For some games you may need to know what ports to open but for most applications it will prompt you that it is trying to acces and you can say yes or no.  And worst case, if you can't figure out what ports to open for a certain game you just turn it off while playing that game.  Then turn it back on when you are done.  You won't have any less protection than you did have while playing games and you will have much more protection while you aren not playing games.

For a corporation....as long as the applications you use don't have compatibility porblems with the SP you should install it.  And if your company is a Windows 2000/2003 Active Directory domain you can control all the firewall settings for the clients form the domain controller...which is great!

My 2 cents,
Pete

[AMA_DirtTwister]

I've installed it and haven't experienced any problems with it yet.  I've used it since shortly after it came out.  Every game that I've used the firewall has asked me to either block or unblock.   You can easily disable the firewall if you don't want it.

Bruce