Other personal firewalls besides Norton?

[Eric McG]

Here's three (all offer free versions):

http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html

http://soho.sygate.com/default.htm

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp

I use Sygate.

 

[Guest]

There are 2 answers to this question

1) Yes, there are many software firewalls available. Personally, I use Zone Alarm by Zone Labs. However, changing your firewall software may not make your connectivity to the Internet any easier. That is the trade-off -- Better protection, difficult configuration

2) How about a router? Yes, you're right. That is a question for a question, but you may want to consider this as another option. A router is a network devise that allows you to route IP addresses in very special ways. In addition, many routers that are available today, especially routers specifically designed for internet connectivity, have very nice firewall capabilities. They are extremely easy to set up. Take a look at Linksys. That one works very nicely

Just by what you have described in your post, I would recommend option 2. It does cost more up front, but the easabiliy and security is well worth it

-
Pet
http://www.websolutionpro.co

 

[VM]

I have a win2000 laptop and I have Norton Personal Firewall installed.
Unfortunately, it's giving me more problems than what I really want. I'm
having so much trouble accessing the Internet with IE6 that I'm using an old
version of Opera in the meantime. It also disables many of win Explorer
functionality.
Unfortunately, I need a personal firewall because I've been having unusual
strong activity with my modem even when I'm not browsing. I had uninstalled
Norton Firewall but had to reinstall it.
Do you know of any other other firewalls out there besides Norton?

Thanks.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

When my subscription to Symantec's updates for Norton Internet
Security 2002 came up for renewal (at a cost substantially higher than
last year's subscription), I decided to try less expensive solutions.
I downloaded and installed the free version of GriSoft's AVG (
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php ) and the free version of
Sygate's Personal Firewall ( http://smb.sygate.com/free/default.php ).
Both have proven to be easily installed, easy to use, and quite
effective. Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised to see a small
but very noticeable improvement in my PC's performance, once I'd
replaced the Symantec product.


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You make a good point, however even good hardware firewalls (and
NAT-capable routers) do nothing to protect the user from him/herself.
Again -- and I _cannot_ emphasize this enough -- almost all spyware
and many Trojans and worms are downloaded and installed (albeit
carelessly or unknowingly) by the user. So a software firewall, such
as Sygate or ZoneAlarm, that can detect and warn the user of
unauthorized out-going traffic is an important element of protecting
one's privacy and security. Most antivirus applications do not scan
for, identify, or protect you from adware/spyware, because, after
all, you've installed them yourself, so you must want them there,
right?

I use both a router with NAT and Sygate Personal Firewall, even
though I generally know better than to install scumware. When it
comes to computer security and protecting my privacy, I prefer the old
"belt and suspenders" approach.


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH