I just allow anything... does the firewall do anything anyway

[idrinkmilk]

When I have a firewall installed on my computer I just allow everything when things popup. This is since I don't know what 80% of the stuff is. And even when I know, I have no idea if it is hijacked or something.

So my question is, does the firewall help anything when I'm doing like this?

[clubj]

I think there are some things that it recognizes as pretty bad so it will automatically block it. You are decreasing its effectiveness in allowing all, but maybe there is an option that lets the program choose for you, and if so, thats probably what you should select.

[psionic storm]

yea, not too sure about winxp firewall but im guessing it'll filter most icmp traffic and and not send tcp rst replies for unbinded ports?

[ispiked]

Yes, clicking "Allow" without reading anything about what program pretty much defeats the purpose of using a firewall.

For example, someone installs a keylogger on your computer and it tries to send outgoing data. Your firewall pops up a dialog and asks you if you'd like to allow it to access the Web and you click "Allow" without noticing that you're allowing a keylogger.

You can "train" your firewall in a short matter of time to allow all the programs that normally need to access the 'net to have access. Then when a pop-up comes up it'll usually be a rare occurrence and warrant a closer inspection.

[Computerb]

Your strategy is 180 degrees off. You should only allow internet access to programs you installed and trust. Everything else should be blocked.