I've recently noticed that after enabling the WinXP Firewall, my downloads end up stopping midway through in both Firefox and IE. Generally I notice it on larger files, but it happens consistently. Once I turn off the XP firewall, all is good again.

Anyone else experience this problem? I'd prefer to not use other firewall solutions if possible.

You would seem to be in the minority of those who need firewall protection and depend on the XP Firewall. It is notable for really messing up network connections as well as inconsistent in what it blocks on the net. Try Outpost Firewall: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Outpost_Firewall_Free_d1056.html It is an "open source" product and is really easy to use.

If you really want to keep that sub-par firewall, then make sure you have a great anti-virus program.
Set up a folder that you download everything to, then turn off the firewall only when you download. Make sure everything you download goes to that folder and scan the folder before you run anything that you downloaded. Just remember to re-start your firewall after you finish downloading.
If this seems like a real pain in the as*, it is but that is your best bet if you want to stick with XP's crappy firewall.

Hi!
After my Norton IE Security 2005 90 day license ran out, despite me renewing it (or at least PAYING for a renewal) NO automatic downloads seem to work for me. I can download anything I want (running AVG+Sygate FW) manually, but automatic downloads don't even reach the modem (there's not even a little blink). I've got the XP firewall turned off - haven't used it at all - don't trust it, so that's not the issue - rather I suspect a Symantec component is blocking it - a component that won't let me remove it btw...
Any hints?

/Carl

You may have to configure a port opening in Sygate for the auto updates. I'm not certain on that because I don't use Sygate but it stands to reason that that would be the problem. I'm sure that someone else on here knows more about the potential problem.

Nope, that's not it - the automatic updates for Windows work even with the firewall on, but the AVG autodownload doesn't even work with the firewall shut down altogether. Moreover, it all started when NAV expired, not after I installed Sygate

Norton sucks, it's notorius for screwing things up like that. Try uninstalling it, you'll be in for even more surprizes.

Kaspersky is another one, totally trashed my XP, had to format and reintall XP.

AVP's suck, for the most part, they do more damage than they keep out.