It is a pleasure to use. Some friends tell me that I should buy a firewall now that the computer is connected most of the time. Others are telling me that since I have the latest Norton 2001 antivirus program, and as long as I keep it up to date, I am fully protected. Norton updates automatically in the background. However, the purpose of the firewall is to isolate your computer from the outside world.
Many companies like to harvest data from computers without causing any harm.
With a firewall you can tell the software who to allow from the Web in and out of your computer. I had a recent instance where the computer was trying to access the Web. It was part of a Trojan horse type troublemaker which tried to get the computer to connect by modem to a site in New Zealand. Others have been hit by that program called sizzle.exe. It is not strictly a virus since all that it does is bless you with enormous long distance calls and downloads from porn sites.