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Firewalls are programs run on your computer to help protect you from malware by screening out hackers and malware that attempt to reach your computer via the Internet. It screens through the surveillance/blockage of ports, the locations at which a type of network traffic reaches your computer. If you receive unsolicited traffic, firewalls block ports before the traffic can reach your computer.
For special uses, such as mapping your HOME drive or playing online games, you can select and specify ports you wish to leave open. You can find a list of programs and services that can conflict with Windows Firewall as well as detailed instructions on how to manually reconfigure firewall settings here.
A firewall is only a preventive step in network security. It will not clean a computer already infected with viruses, trojans, and spyware, nor will it by any means prevent all such malware from arriving, but it is still an important and effective line of defense.
No. This causes unnecessary conflict. Running one is the best course of action.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 contains a Windows Firewall which is turned on by default. It is recommended that you leave the Windows Firewall turned on. It may cause problems with the registration process and mapping network drives, so you may need to turn it off during those processes.
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