Introduction to the Microsoft Windows XP Firewall

Microsoft's Internet Connection Firewall was designed to work with personal firewall applications, not to compete with them. ICF is far from perfect as firewalls go. It doesn't block any outbound traffic; which won't protect you from Trojan application that have made it onto you computer by other means (email, downloads, etc). Its rules are rather basic compared to other personal firewalls. But on the other hand, ICF has no cost (other than the OS cost). It has little or no complexity, if the average home user uses the wizard to configure his Internet connection, he may not even know that ICF is in place. ICF is a tool designed for the average, not so knowledgeable home user with high speed Internet access and traditionally has little or no protections in place.