Best free Fire Wall..?

[Guest]

O.K. I'm the first one to admit that this ? is a "Oh no not Again!" deal by
now, I just got done spending 2 weeks trouble shooting (on and off the comp.
at home in 20 min. sessions between family members) and getting NetWork to
work correctly after a free firewall tied things up. I the firewall enabled
that comes with Win. XP Pro now. It certainly seems that when I look back on
the 10 years I've been maintaining my home systems that the big problems I
have to clean up mainly start with Firewalls. I have Win XP Pro ofcourse and
a router through which my 2 computers are Networked. The Linksys RT31P2 feeds
off a Cable modem. I,m asking this question here once again 'cause I'm going
to go to a wireless network ( wireless'n' most likely) soon and I have read
where a firewall is really desirable. So please weigh in and possibly save me
greif. Peace.

 

[PA Bear]

The Windows Firewall running in conjunction with a WPA- or WPA2-enabled
router is sufficient protection for most home users IMHO.

There's a fairly steep learning curve with any third-party firewall...and
those curves are getting steeper every day.

 

[Ed Metcalfe]

O.K. I'm the first one to admit that this ? is a "Oh no not Again!" deal
by
now, I just got done spending 2 weeks trouble shooting (on and off the
comp.
at home in 20 min. sessions between family members) and getting NetWork to
work correctly after a free firewall tied things up. I the firewall
enabled
that comes with Win. XP Pro now. It certainly seems that when I look back
on
the 10 years I've been maintaining my home systems that the big problems I
have to clean up mainly start with Firewalls. I have Win XP Pro ofcourse
and
a router through which my 2 computers are Networked. The Linksys RT31P2
feeds
off a Cable modem. I,m asking this question here once again 'cause I'm
going
to go to a wireless network ( wireless'n' most likely) soon and I have
read
where a firewall is really desirable. So please weigh in and possibly save
me
greif. Peace.

Thom,

As PA Bear has said the Windows Firewall is adequate for most people's
requirements and is certainly what I would recommend for inexperienced
users.

My one complaint about it is the lack of outbound protection (your router
actually provides very good inbound protection), so if you're looking for
something a little more advanced check out Sunbelt Kerio or the free version
of ZoneAlarm.

Ed Metcalfe.

 

[Rock]

O.K. I'm the first one to admit that this ? is a "Oh no not Again!" deal
by
now, I just got done spending 2 weeks trouble shooting (on and off the
comp.
at home in 20 min. sessions between family members) and getting NetWork to
work correctly after a free firewall tied things up. I the firewall
enabled
that comes with Win. XP Pro now. It certainly seems that when I look back
on
the 10 years I've been maintaining my home systems that the big problems I
have to clean up mainly start with Firewalls. I have Win XP Pro ofcourse
and
a router through which my 2 computers are Networked. The Linksys RT31P2
feeds
off a Cable modem. I,m asking this question here once again 'cause I'm
going
to go to a wireless network ( wireless'n' most likely) soon and I have
read
where a firewall is really desirable. So please weigh in and possibly save
me
greif. Peace.

What firewall did you recently get rid of?

In order of popularity it's Zone Alarm, Comodo Personal Firewall, and Kerio
Personal Firewall (Sunbelt Software). Some have complained the latest
version of Zone Alarm is bloated.

I use the both the free version of Kerio, and Comodo (also free) on
different installations. They are both fine. The windows firewall behind a
NAT router is fine too.

 

[...winston]

Bloat comparison<g>
Download size or last three versions(not interim releases which fixed bugs)dating back to spring of 2006
6.1.744 10MB
6.5.737 13MB
7.0.302 39MB

Just curious...I liked Kerio but still prefer and use ZA 6.1.744 on XP..have not tried Comodo on XP..What are you using if applicable on Vista ?

For me, Windows on one Vista machine, though I've been running N360(ssshhh!!) without issue on another Vista U.

..winston

Some have complained the latest
: version of Zone Alarm is bloated.
:
: I use the both the free version of Kerio, and Comodo (also free) on
: different installations. They are both fine. The windows firewall behind a
: NAT router is fine too.
:
: --
: Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
:

 

[Dennis McCunney]

O.K. I'm the first one to admit that this ? is a "Oh no not Again!" deal by
now, I just got done spending 2 weeks trouble shooting (on and off the comp.
at home in 20 min. sessions between family members) and getting NetWork to
work correctly after a free firewall tied things up. I the firewall enabled
that comes with Win. XP Pro now. It certainly seems that when I look back on
the 10 years I've been maintaining my home systems that the big problems I
have to clean up mainly start with Firewalls. I have Win XP Pro ofcourse and
a router through which my 2 computers are Networked. The Linksys RT31P2 feeds
off a Cable modem. I,m asking this question here once again 'cause I'm going
to go to a wireless network ( wireless'n' most likely) soon and I have read
where a firewall is really desirable. So please weigh in and possibly save me
greif. Peace.

The problem with the XP firewall is no *outbound* protection. I have a
router with hardware firewall and a software firewall. The router
controls what gets in. The software firewall controls what can get
*out*. (Like, no, I *don't* want WMP to connect to the network,
ThankYouVeryMuch...)

I've used an assortment of software firewalls, including Zone Alarm,
Tiny Personal Firewall, Kerio Personal Firewall, and Comodo Personal
Firewall. At the moment, I'm back to my old favorite, Sygate Personal
Firewall. Sygate got acquired by Symantec, and SPF is no longer
supported, but the freeware version is still widely available. It has
the best interface I've seen. I started using SPF to replace Zone Alarm
because I had a problem with ZA. At the time, I had both a DSL line and
a cable modem. ZA apparently got confused by my having two network
interfaces, and reached a point where I couldn't get email from either
account. As far as I could tell from the logs, ZA thought Verizon's and
Roadrunner's servers were trying to talk to each other through my
machine and said "No!".

After spending a few days trying to fix it, I gave up and installed SPF.
It just worked. It also let me do some things I'd never figured out
how to get ZA to do, like let me *open* a port for my bit torrent client.

Sygate gets knocked for making a poor showing on "leak tests", but that
doesn't bother me. Leak tests assume that your PC has been infected by
something nasty that will try to phone home, and test the ability of the
firewall to protect itself and prevent it. I take some pains to *avoid*
getting infected, so leak test failures aren't a concern.
______
Dennis

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

The problem with the XP firewall is no *outbound* protection. I have a
router with hardware firewall and a software firewall. The router
controls what gets in. The software firewall controls what can get
*out*.

Poor boy. You do not have any security concept since you depend on
monitoring the outbound traffic. "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.

See this thread in addition - dream on.
http://groups.google.de/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/f3cf09564a5f3540

 

[Guest]

I used ZA Free. Really tough on family members and then I'd have to go in and
straighten things out after they'd complain about programs not working.

 

[Guest]

So, what are you saying? Is it that firewalls can't stop the bad stuff so why
bother with'em, or we all need to get a more sophisticated firewall software
package designed ASP.
Dreyer what are you using?
Thanks.

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

So, what are you saying? Is it that firewalls can't stop the bad stuff

Correct. It's not the firewalls' job anyway to stop any "bad stuff"
because it's *your* job to make sure that your system does not get
compromised.

so why bother with'em, or we all need to get a more sophisticated
firewall software package designed ASP.

Again, expecting that the firewall protects you against Malware is
the wrong approach! Follow these basics rather than depending on
snake-oil.

- use administrative privileges only when needed
- surf under a *limited* user account only
- set all security settings correctly
- set the NTFS privileges correctly rather than using FAT32
- make sure to run a fully patched system
- run an updated anti-virus from time to time
- install Brain 1.0 between keyboard and chair

Dreyer what are you using?

Just the built-in WinXP firewall (packet filter). And that's it.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, I'll install Brain 1.0 for all our computer users @ home here.

 

[Rock]

Bloat comparison<g>
Download size or last three versions(not interim releases which fixed
bugs)dating back to spring of 2006
6.1.744 10MB
6.5.737 13MB
7.0.302 39MB

Just curious...I liked Kerio but still prefer and use ZA 6.1.744 on XP..have
not tried Comodo on XP..What are you using if applicable on Vista ?

For me, Windows on one Vista machine, though I've been running
N360(ssshhh!!) without issue on another Vista U.

..winston

Some have complained the latest
: version of Zone Alarm is bloated.
:
: I use the both the free version of Kerio, and Comodo (also free) on
: different installations. They are both fine. The windows firewall behind
a
: NAT router is fine too.

Interesting comparison data on Zone Alarm.

For Vista, I just use the built in firewall (behind a NAT router). I don't
see a need for a 3rd party app. Lol...I won't rat you out on N360
(shudders).