Firewalls for Vista

[Guest]

What aftermarket firewalls function properly under Vista? Dont get me wrong,
I feel Microsoft has done a great job with thier built-in firewall, but as an
advanced user I much prefer two features to my firewall: a) easier rule
implimentations/port allowances/etc, and b) the ability to either view live
or view logs of actual packet/ip/transport information.

Under normal circumstances I have stuck with one of two firewalls in the
past, Ghostwall from www.ghostsecurity.com (which has a very easy rules
system and great packet reports) or Outpost Firewall (mainly again because
this firewall supports the easy rules generation and packet logs)

Zonealarm does a wonderful job as a firewall, but tends to be quite the
resource hog, sometimes clocking in at 40+ meg virtual memory, 60+ meg of ram
just at idle** not even browsing, and to me this means a performance hit.
Also it has a tendancy to introduce some lag into a system because of its
slower scanning of packets (to most people 3ms to 20ms of lag is no big deal
for web browsing, but if youre a gamer, or watching alot of netvideo or
listen to netradio, this can cause undesirable drag on your network
performance).

Flexibility, information, and speed are my concern on a firewall anyways,
anyone have any suggestions on what to try?


**(you can check how much memory programs are using with a replacement task
manager called ProcX; http://www.ghostsecurity.com/procx/ ; i replace my task
managers with this on every computer i work with. Also worth mentioning,
ProcX can terminate tasks, unstoppable programs that the Windows task manager
cant stop, even options to Terminate and Rename, and Terminate and Delete, a
must-have utility for any IT or advanced computer user)

 

[ViPeRaY]

i checked some firewalls but not working well. zone alarm is not. i download
trend micro pc cillin internet security that comes with virus projection and
firewall but i must say i do not trust this firewall. i always ussd zone
alarm on my xp.

 

[Jeff]

And,
The firewall in Vista;now;is WAY better than xp. Just type in firewall
in search;and go to the advanced firewall settings.
Anything;and Everything ya need is there now.
Chk it out.
WAY better; so much control; now; I don't even bother with 3rd party apps.
Got to hand it to MSFT in this area. They've definitely done their
homework for the firewall in Vista.
Old habits are hard to break; but CHK IT OUT; it's WAY better now.
Jeff

 

[ViPeRaY]

yeah i exactly agree with you. vista has better firewall than xp.

 

[Wayne]

What aftermarket firewalls function properly under Vista? Dont get me
wrong,
I feel Microsoft has done a great job with thier built-in firewall, but as
an
advanced user I much prefer two features to my firewall: a) easier rule
implimentations/port allowances/etc, and b) the ability to either view
live
or view logs of actual packet/ip/transport information.

<snip>

http://www.samspade.org/d/persfire.html

http://www.samspade.org/d/firewalls.html

Wayne McGlinn
Brisbane, Oz

 

[Garry]

Skuse me,

Iz this a junk mail post to promote third party firewalls???

Specifically Ghostwall.

Just asking!!!

Garry

 

[Guest]

I think young (e-mail address removed) has missed the point about 'personal'
firewalls. I absolutely agree that incoming firewalls are properly
implemented when separate units (I run a NAT/SPI FW as part of my router) but
a personal FW is primarily about blocking outgoing traffic. Sure there's IDS
systems around but none of them are as good as proper AV + AntiSpyware
(Preferably of several flavors) AND an outgoing blocker based on which
program is trying to do the communication - This is where Personal FWs win.
Of course most security products are wasted on the vast majority of users as
you have to have some understanding to be able to make the right choices.
Generally the rule with security is 'Deny unless essential', unfortunately
most users will allow everything unless it looks really nasty

PS Samspade has moved now, try http://preview.samspade.org/d/firewalls.html
etc