Is Windows Firewall a resource hog?

Mine was reinstalled when I bought this hard drive, sometime last summer, I think. I keep it clean by regularly defragging with Perfect Disk Pro 11, perhaps the best paid defrag tool on the market (they have Home & Pro versions), and they offer updates as necessary. Plus I use CCleaner to keep the unneeded files deleted from it, and the registry clean.

I have a lot of installed software on it, there's 35 icons on the screen, plus some programs (like Office 2010) that doesn't have a desktop icon. Plus I have Windows Virtual PC installed on it, but I decided to install XP Media Center, rather than XP Mode. XP Mode doesn't give an option during install as to how much disk space to use, plus I like the look & feel of XP's Media Center.

My "C" partition is 462GB, with 232GB free. That's a lot of data. It was taking 15 to 30 seconds for that neon circle to stop spinning, and my icons loading up, one at a time. So having them load fast just by changing firewalls leads me to believe that the Windows Firewall is heavy on resources. That's the only proof that I have of it, on two computers.

BTW, it was just yesterday that I clean installed XP Media Center on my notebook, I used a trial version of Diskepper 2010 to defrag it good. That's how I do all of any new installs of Windows, is using trial software (of commercial versions) to clean everything up and making it run smooth. So there was no reason for it not to load fast from the beginning. It was not as noticeable on the notebook as it was on my desktop, but there was a positive difference of loadup times after home screen came on.

With two separate computers, running two entirely different OS's and hardware, I don't believe it was a coincidence that they're both loading faster.

At any rate, I hope that it works out well for both of us.

Cat

When I fix my XP I'll put Comodo on that and see what happens. XP is a slow loader.

That will probably help it a lot. The difference may be more noticeable with all of your software installed on it.

If you want to get that partition running smooth, download a trial of Perfect Disk or Diskeeper, you can use it for 30 days, and it's a fully functional software. You can even schedule boot time defrags to defrag your page & system files, something that most defrag tools doesn't do. Plus, it'll defrag both partitions from the OS that it's installed on.

Cat

Man, is the security tight with Comodo or what? I really don't mind the security. But I was installing a Linux Mint OS onto my notebook, usually the internet will show when running off Live CD, and all I have to do is point it to the network, and enter the password. It didn't. So I did a full install, for it to find the hardware. It still didn't connect, even though I had the router name & password typed in (manually, through the hidden network option).

This is the very first time this has happened. But I'm not complaining, I can just as easily run it through VirtualBox. I just never realized that an alternative firewall can completely block the signal, making it hidden, although I chose internet sharing between my home network. But I guess that was between the already installed OS's.

That's a lot of security for free.

Cat

Well, I've never used any Firewall but my windows Firewall is always on...
I've heard about Comodo Firewall..... Is this better than windows firewall??? Where can I get this???

You'll need to "turn off" the Windows Firewall before the install. It's two clicks and you're done.

Comodo Firewall can be found at:

http:www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall.php

Enjoy! Just make sure that you don't select the option to allow your internet signal to run through their servers, or your download speeds will be slow. It's simple to install. And unless you need it, uncheck the Geek Buddy option, as you have to pay after 60 days.

Cat