Thread: Running Two Firewalls

I'm not too bright when it comes to computers, so I could really use some help here. I have a system with Windows Vista Home Premium. I have been running TWO firewalls (Windows Firewall and a Trend Micro Firewall). I have just found out recently that this is not a good thing. I have reinstalled Trend Micro several times because it doesn't function properly. Everytime I did, I would get a balloon pop-up saying my computer wasn't protected because WIndows Firewall was disabled. So, I enabled it! How was I to know this was not a good thing? Could you please tell me if this has ruined my computer? Does this kind of thing cause permanent damage of any kind that you know of?

Also, when I disabled the Windows Firewall, there was a period of time that my Windows Live Messenger wouldn't work.

I am now running only the one firewall from Trend Micro.

Thanks for whatever help and advice you can give.

Two software firewalls running will conflict and cause problems. The same is true with running two antivirus programs. Only run one. You should be ok now with only the one running and no damage will have been done. Try learning a bit about the Trend firewall settings such as how to allow or disallow applications as this can be useful if you find the firewall stopping an application for some reason even though the app is ok.
If you have a hardware firewall, in a router for example, then it's ok to have a software and the hardware firewalls.