Would anyone recommend the built in firewall in Windows 10? or would you go for an outside (freeware) firewall? I am still trying to get around in 10, so I do not know where to find MS's firewall. Thanks
Are you asking if you should disable the built-in firewall? It's on by default. Only time it would really be needed is when you are on a public free wifi network. When you are home, your router should have a hardware firewall built-in.
Speaking as an IT professional: Windows builtin FW has been pretty decent since XP. While some third parties may give you better features, it gets the basics quite well. Even on a private network, You need to run it. Most home routers do not have any sort of firewall at all. They have something called NAT which some folks think is a security feature, but is really a networking feature that is reasonably easy to bypass. Only if it causes issues with an app would I change anything on it, and then you get into advanced fw configuration and trying to create a hole for just that application.
I use to be in the IT field myself. Now a days I am sorry I left. I remember when people use to joke about the MS FW. I remember I use to use a free firewall. Can't remember which one though. I remember it was a popular one. Just since I upgraded to Windows 10 64 bit and got that spam call. It has been making me think again about having a firewall. Should I just stick with the settings that Microsoft chooses or are there any tweaks one might do to it? Also since everything is changed, where would I go to even view the FW?
Windows 10 has a neat feature. Click on the "start window" and then start typing firewall and it will magically appear for you.