Do I REALLY Need a Firewall?

[Cida]

Your computer firewall doesn't slow down your internet by much, your useless router firewall (that is not capable of detecting Trojans, an stuff) will slow down your internet more, I disabled my router firewall, and my internet speed was twice the speed according to http://speedtest.net .

Disable you router firewall, if you want speed, but not your computer one, your computer can be fudged over just by visiting a site.

[Kharnage]

Your computer firewall doesn't slow down your internet by much, your useless router firewall (that is not capable of detecting Trojans, an stuff) will slow down your internet more, I disabled my router firewall, and my internet speed was twice the speed according to http://speedtest.net .

Disable you router firewall, if you want speed, but not your computer one, your computer can be fudged over just by visiting a site.

Can anyone confirm this?

[Cida]

Can anyone confirm this?

I can :P
.

[Kharnage]

I can
.

Other than you?

[Treblez]

I think WinXP firewall is just fine ... unless you own a server full of "valuable" info that might be of interest for somebody, so they decide to go through all the hastle and take the risks to hack you

[MarkW7]

:o Flamethrowers.

I only use a firewall on 3 of my 7 machines, and that's for Defense + in comodo.

Machines:

Server
Main PC
Notebook

Aslong as you have a hardware firewall, you should be ok, unless your brothers a hacker or something

[DAMINK™]

Typically your hardware firewall is for inbound defence yes?
Well this is not the real problem. What if you system gets compromised by downloading something silly?
Then you have no way of knowing what outbound activity is going on!
But it appears i am outnumbered here.
For me i will always have an interactive firewall to notify me of outbound activity.
Its saved me many a time already and will more in the future.

[ccalby]

do you need one? I don't think so, I use the built in windows one and never had any issues. I do browse "safely" However, when I get a few minutes, I think I will get a firewall because its always better to be safe than sorry

[Danny]

Yes. I would say that all computers should be required to have a firewall.

[Tank]

Hey guys, do I really need a firewall?

I practice safe browsing
I never download a file unless it has been approved by many people
I frequently scan my computer
I update my computer whenever possible
I have common sense

My router is M1424WR, I'm not sure if it has a built in firewall or not and my ISP is Verizon FiOS. If you guys can check whether or not I have a built in firewall on my router, that would be great.

I am currently using MSE, MAM, SAS, Sandboxie and Windows XP's firewall
(I know crappy firewall) I do not want to slow my internet connection down by having a firewall run side by side.

So do I really need a firewall? What for?

I'll tell you like a great friend told me;

"Not having a firewall is like freakin a 50 year old prostitute without a condom."

True words of wisdom.