best software firewall?

[Liam]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?
(Hardware is the best, yes. But this is for a notebook that travels
around and there's no garauntee it will always be behind a hardware
firewall/IDS, and something is better than nothing.)

I've been directed to some software like Air-Defense which looks very
useful. And some Windows XP security tips (like turn off file sharing
and remove the Guest account, etc.)
But I'm also looking into a software package that can help too.

Norton is out. You can't pay me to use Norton.
I've had problems in the past with ZoneAlarm, and hear of problems, so
I'm leary.
What about AVG's? And Steganos'? They have trials, and they seem good,
but then, I really don't know how successful they are.
Some kind of indipendent testing and review would be great.
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Liam

 

[Pennywise]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?
(Hardware is the best, yes. But this is for a notebook that travels
around and there's no garauntee it will always be behind a hardware
firewall/IDS, and something is better than nothing.)

I've been directed to some software like Air-Defense which looks very
useful. And some Windows XP security tips (like turn off file sharing
and remove the Guest account, etc.)
But I'm also looking into a software package that can help too.

Norton is out. You can't pay me to use Norton.
I've had problems in the past with ZoneAlarm, and hear of problems, so
I'm leary.
What about AVG's? And Steganos'? They have trials, and they seem good,
but then, I really don't know how successful they are.
Some kind of indipendent testing and review would be great.
Any suggestions?

Google: firewall reviews http://www.firewallguide.com/software.htm

I use Zone Alarm 5.5 as the later versions have become bloatware
[ Windows joke here ], been using ZA since @guard disappeared; but
I've heard good personal statements about Outpost and going to give
that a try.

 

[Ken Blake]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?

I like and use ZoneAlarm

(Hardware is the best, yes. But this is for a notebook that travels
around and there's no garauntee it will always be behind a hardware
firewall/IDS, and something is better than nothing.)

I've been directed to some software like Air-Defense which looks very
useful. And some Windows XP security tips (like turn off file sharing
and remove the Guest account, etc.)
But I'm also looking into a software package that can help too.

Norton is out. You can't pay me to use Norton.

I'm with you there.

I've had problems in the past with ZoneAlarm, and hear of problems, so
I'm leary.

Your choice, of course. I have ZA on all my machines and have put on many
others too. No problems at all.

 

[Donny Broome]

ZoneAlarm free edition works great.

 

[Liam]

I like and use ZoneAlarm




I'm with you there.




Your choice, of course. I have ZA on all my machines and have put on many
others too. No problems at all.

Thanks for the reply.
Well, my experience with ZA has been that it interferes with innocent
Web pages and creates odd problems like breaks benign javascript.
I work in the tech department of a large e-commerce site, and many of
the calls we get from people with problems on our site are running ZA.
When they shut it down, the site works fine... but we never get people
running other software firewalls calling in with these problems.

 

[Kerry Brown]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?
(Hardware is the best, yes. But this is for a notebook that travels
around and there's no garauntee it will always be behind a hardware
firewall/IDS, and something is better than nothing.)

I've been directed to some software like Air-Defense which looks very
useful. And some Windows XP security tips (like turn off file sharing
and remove the Guest account, etc.)
But I'm also looking into a software package that can help too.

Norton is out. You can't pay me to use Norton.
I've had problems in the past with ZoneAlarm, and hear of problems, so
I'm leary.
What about AVG's? And Steganos'? They have trials, and they seem good,
but then, I really don't know how successful they are.
Some kind of indipendent testing and review would be great.
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Liam

On my laptop I dual boot to Linux and use Linux when not connected to my own
networks. Normally I recommend using the built in Windows firewall but when
connecting to public networks you may want something that will pop up more
warnings. Zone Alarm is the best free one. Personally like I said I use
Linux for public hotspots. It is inherently more secure and is definitely
not targeted like Windows is.

 

[Liam]

On my laptop I dual boot to Linux and use Linux when not connected to my own
networks. Normally I recommend using the built in Windows firewall but when
connecting to public networks you may want something that will pop up more
warnings. Zone Alarm is the best free one. Personally like I said I use
Linux for public hotspots. It is inherently more secure and is definitely
not targeted like Windows is.

That's a fantastic idea!
(Free isn't nec' a requirement; if there's a package out there that's
great, I'll put the money down for it. I've had issues with ZA in the
past.)
But I'm pretty Linux savvy, so I could certainly dual-boot with say
Fedora Core.
Thanks for the suggestion!
-Liam

 

[Thomas]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?
(Hardware is the best, yes. But this is for a notebook that travels
around and there's no garauntee it will always be behind a hardware
firewall/IDS, and something is better than nothing.)

So why don´t you just disable all services you don´t need? Does not
cost a dime, does not load your PC with new vulnerabilities... And no,
something is not necessarily better than nothing.

Norton is out. You can't pay me to use Norton.

I would not even try

I've had problems in the past with ZoneAlarm, and hear of problems, so
I'm leary.
What about AVG's? And Steganos'? They have trials, and they seem good,
but then, I really don't know how successful they are.

What would you expect them to do? And what´s wrong with the packet
filter included in XP?

Regards
Thomas

 

[ANONYMOUS]

I would stay with Windows Firewall unless you have some special
requirements. Windows Firewall has worked for me since 2001 (when XP
was first released) and this has improved since SP2!.

When something is free from companies you don't know, you have to ask is
there is anything called FREE LUNCH?! You have paid for Windows so make
use of it properly.

hth

 

[Liam]

So why don´t you just disable all services you don´t need? Does not
cost a dime, does not load your PC with new vulnerabilities... And no,
something is not necessarily better than nothing.


I would not even try


What would you expect them to do? And what´s wrong with the packet
filter included in XP?

Well, I'm not so certain it's as good at truely stopping intrusions and
detecting trojans as something else might be.
I do know it's not as configureable as things like AVG's, and it
doesn't show you as much of what's going on and in as much detail as
others.

 

[Kerry Brown]

On my laptop I dual boot to Linux and use Linux when not connected
to my own networks. Normally I recommend using the built in Windows
firewall but when connecting to public networks you may want
something that will pop up more warnings. Zone Alarm is the best
free one. Personally like I said I use Linux for public hotspots. It
is inherently more secure and is definitely not targeted like
Windows is.

That's a fantastic idea!
(Free isn't nec' a requirement; if there's a package out there that's
great, I'll put the money down for it. I've had issues with ZA in the
past.)
But I'm pretty Linux savvy, so I could certainly dual-boot with say
Fedora Core.
Thanks for the suggestion!
-Liam

The wireless networkmanager in FC5 is pretty flakey. I'm using FC5 and had
to configure the wireless manually. Wireless works better in KDE than gnome
for some unknown reason.

 

[Dan]

<snip>

I agree with you Ken Blake and Zone Alarm Professional guards my
dual-boot 98SE/XP PRO. and has not failed me yet. I remember putting
Windows Firewall through the test and it failed even without allowing
any exceptions but Zone Alarm Professional has not failed me yet. A
good site to test your firewall is grc.com through the Shields Up and
scan all service ports which is over 1000. If you get a pass with a
full stealth rating then your firewall is pretty well protected.

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the reply.
Well, my experience with ZA has been that it interferes with innocent
Web pages and creates odd problems like breaks benign javascript.
I work in the tech department of a large e-commerce site, and many of
the calls we get from people with problems on our site are running ZA.
When they shut it down, the site works fine... but we never get people
running other software firewalls calling in with these problems.

<snip>

Perhaps these users have enabled such features as mobile code control
that can block javascript, block scripts such as vbscript, block
embedded objects like ActiveX and Java and block mime type integrated
objects.

 

[Leythos]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?
(Hardware is the best, yes. But this is for a notebook that travels
around and there's no garauntee it will always be behind a hardware
firewall/IDS, and something is better than nothing.)

I've been directed to some software like Air-Defense which looks very
useful. And some Windows XP security tips (like turn off file sharing
and remove the Guest account, etc.)
But I'm also looking into a software package that can help too.

Norton is out. You can't pay me to use Norton.
I've had problems in the past with ZoneAlarm, and hear of problems, so
I'm leary.
What about AVG's? And Steganos'? They have trials, and they seem good,
but then, I really don't know how successful they are.
Some kind of indipendent testing and review would be great.
Any suggestions?

I would purchase a nice Unix box, like an HP Server and then install
CheckPoint FW-1 on it if I needed a software based solution.

Running a non-dedicated solution means you are very likely to screw it
up and negate any protection you might have had.

 

[Duane Arnold]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?
(Hardware is the best, yes. But this is for a notebook that travels
around and there's no garauntee it will always be behind a hardware
firewall/IDS, and something is better than nothing.)

Well, while in this hotel with a laptop using both wireless and dial-up on a
Windows XP pro machine, I use BlackIce and IPsec that's on the XP pro O/S.
IPsec suplements BlackIce that can't stop outbound traffic if I need to stop
outbound.

I've been directed to some software like Air-Defense which looks very
useful. And some Windows XP security tips (like turn off file sharing
and remove the Guest account, etc.)
But I'm also looking into a software package that can help too.

Yes, I too have configured the XP O/S and harden it to attack.

Norton is out. You can't pay me to use Norton.
I've had problems in the past with ZoneAlarm, and hear of problems, so
I'm leary.
What about AVG's? And Steganos'? They have trials, and they seem good,
but then, I really don't know how successful they are.
Some kind of indipendent testing and review would be great.
Any suggestions?

Virus Bulliten is one place you can check.

I use NOD32 myself. The IMON feature of NOD32 allows me to terminate the TCP
connction, if it detects malware coming in the network traffic, along with
other nice fratures.

Duane

 

[Kerry Brown]

I would purchase a nice Unix box, like an HP Server and then install
CheckPoint FW-1 on it if I needed a software based solution.

Running a non-dedicated solution means you are very likely to screw it
up and negate any protection you might have had.

You're going to carry the the HP box around, presumably with a couple of
wireless cards in it, and use it for a firewall at hotspots?

 

[Duane Arnold]

Hey, I found out something about the XP FW I didn't like. My XP Pro
workstation at work I do .NET development. In the middle of compiling and
running this program that does .NET Remoting , the XP firewall made some
exception rule for this program by itself to let this program communicate on
the network. How it knew what to do was beyond me. I also didn't know the
you can make network Domain Group Policy rules for XP.

Those policy rules were stopping the program from communicating, which I
didn't have time to find out what rules needed to be made to allow the
program to communicate. Those policy rules also didn't allow me to disable
the XP FW in the normal manner of disabling it by going to the NIC's
property page via the O/S to disable it.

However, I used regedit and sat a registry entry for the XP FW to disable
it. I was told about this by Tech Support. Once I did that and re-booted the
machine, the XP FW was down.

I don't understand why MS has made this so easy to do.

Duane

 

[Plato]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?

http://www.bootdisk.com/utility.htm
Firewalls

 

[B. Nice]

On Fri, 18 Aug 2006 11:38:51 -0700, (e-mail address removed) wrote:

but I've heard good personal statements about Outpost and going to give
that a try.

Outpost is a piece of software that is so badly designed, that it
allows a restricted user to easily gain administrative rights.
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/19024/info

This error is by design and has been there for years without Agnitum
caring to fix it.
http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2004/Jan/1008755.html

Sorry, but that is not a company to be trusted in terms of security. A
good look-and-feel does'nt make up for a bad engine.

 

[B. Nice]

What are some recommendations for the best software firewall package?
(Hardware is the best, yes. But this is for a notebook that travels
around and there's no garauntee it will always be behind a hardware
firewall/IDS,

The build-in XP firewall or another simple but good packet filter like
wipfw or CHX-I.

and something is better than nothing.

Within security, that's not exactly true. Offering no network services
is better than offering network services and then adding a firewall to
protect them.

I've been directed to some software like Air-Defense which looks very
useful. And some Windows XP security tips (like turn off file sharing
and remove the Guest account, etc.)

But I'm also looking into a software package that can help too.

Please be more specific about what you expect that software package to
help you with.

Norton is out. You can't pay me to use Norton.

I've had problems in the past with ZoneAlarm, and hear of problems, so
I'm leary.

What about AVG's? And Steganos'? They have trials, and they seem good,
but then, I really don't know how successful they are.

Security products can only protect you against what they already know
about.

Some kind of indipendent testing and review would be great.

Agreed. But competent and independent reviews seem hard to find.

Any suggestions?

You need inbound protection from a good packet filter. Then you need a
good anti-malware product to help you try and stop malware at the
gate. You don't need a big personal firewall piece of software to try
and control malware already running from "phoning home".

Then you need to follow a few rules and use your common sense:

- Keep your software patched
True for windows as well as for your other trusted app's.

- Don't run software you don't trust.
Run only software and programs from vendors you trust, or from
normally trustworthy download sites. Not from files received by
e-mail, from a chat friend, from questionable web-sites, from
file-sharing applications or from somebodys home-made CD etc.

- Use another browser than IE for your daily surfing and another
client than Outlook or Outlook Express for your e-mails.

- Don't click links in e-mails or on questionable web-sites without
checking that what it directs you to seems trustworthy.

And then it's a good idea to keep an image of your system in a known
clean state together with regular backup's of your important data - so
that when you have the slightest suspiscion about some kind of
infection - revert to that clean state instead of running tons of
different malware scanning/removal tools. Restoring from an image can
be done both faster and more reliable than running removal tools.