Do you want to understand why millions of computers are being used as bots or have been over run with spyware checkout the reasons people are shutting off the firewall provide by Windows OneCare Live. This is from the teams blog.
Based on our investigation, there are four primary reasons people are turning off their firewall.
1. Do not think a software firewall is necessary
2. Do not like the (sometimes incessant) pop-up dialogs
3. An application failed to install with firewall turned on
4. An application fails to work with firewall turned on
It just goes to prove that either Windows has to get more secure default out of the box or these application have to help the novice understand shutting off a firewall is a bad idea. [www.edbott.com]