There are still a few reasons why a 3rd party firewall such as ZA is preferable to built-in Windows' firewall. I like the GUI, where you can easily change permissions on-the-fly for separate zones. It's right there. Right click the tray app, maybe change a tab, and it's there.
Also, I like to block all Windows stuff such as Host Process for Windows Services (which in my experience, I only need to communicate for WU, nothing else ever), explorer.exe, etc... and then only enable Host Process for a WU. Quick to do with ZA.
I like how ZA handles zones themselves and the settings you can apply to each.
That being said, I'm still waiting for a better beta of ZA for 7. I use the built-in Windows one right now on my 2 machines with 2 hardware routers/firewalls internet communications go through.
I hope they make a barebones version for 7 without the bloat.
