Are there any free firewalls?

[Walter R.]

My wife is using Zonealarm Pro and is having nothing but problems.

She does not like the Windows XP firewall because it does not protect
against outgoing messages.

Are there any free, good, "two-way" firewalls available as downloads?

 

[Galen]

In Walter R. <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

My wife is using Zonealarm Pro and is having nothing but problems.

She does not like the Windows XP firewall because it does not protect
against outgoing messages.

Are there any free, good, "two-way" firewalls available as downloads?

Yes.

Firewalls - Basics:
http://kgiii.info/windows/all/security/firewalls-basics.html

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/

"A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the
furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the
lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants it."

Sherlock Holmes

 

[Hans Norén]

I'm using the light version of ZoneAlarm (not the pro-version), and it's
free and works fine.
/Hans

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

My wife is using Zonealarm Pro and is having nothing but problems.

She does not like the Windows XP firewall because it does not protect
against outgoing messages.

Well, that's the problem. Such firewalls may or may not protect against
outgoing messages. You'll never know for sure if these attempts are
caused by malware (tunnelling):

Do you want Microsoft Internet Explorer to access the internet?
Do you want Netscape Navigator to access the internet?
Do you want Dial-up Network to access the internet?
Do you want Zone Alarm to access the internet?

It's best to stick with the built-in WinXP firewall (packet filter),
consuming no extra resources. You may want to read:

"Entering through the Exits" (Excerpt)
http://www.spirit.com/Network/net1103.html

| Trojans containing backdoors that make outgoing connections can pass
| right through most firewalls.
| ...
| The most sophisticated backdoors disguise their traffic as ordinary
| Web browsing.

"Personal firewalls vs Leak Tests" (Excerpt)
http://www.pcflank.com/art21.htm

| Most firewall users are confident of their firewall and do not even
| suppose that outbound filtering feature of their firewall can be
| bypassed.

 

[Leythos]

My wife is using Zonealarm Pro and is having nothing but problems.

She does not like the Windows XP firewall because it does not protect
against outgoing messages.

Are there any free, good, "two-way" firewalls available as downloads?

If she's having problems maintaining ZAP then she's not going to have
any easier time with the others. ZAP is about as easy as it gets.

 

[Rock]

My wife is using Zonealarm Pro and is having nothing but problems.

She does not like the Windows XP firewall because it does not protect
against outgoing messages.

Are there any free, good, "two-way" firewalls available as downloads?

Sygate and Kerio are also good.

Sygate Personal Firewall
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

Kerio Personal Firewall
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html

 

[Martin]

My wife is using Zonealarm Pro and is having nothing but problems.

Perhaps you could share what problems she is having with ZA? Generally it's
the easiest firewall and Pro usually works well, so what's not working??

 

[Borg hater]

You apparently have a good software driven firewall.

If you provide the ZA Pro version number, and the problems; possibly this
newsgroup can help. Or at least point you in the right direction.
Switching to a more tolerant free firewall is not a good solution.