I need a decent firewall suggestion

[Maxxwire]

Most A/V's are there to tell you when you get infected.:shock:

You are absolutely right! Antivirus programs can do no more than to alert you that your computer is infected and then try to remove the Malware if they can.

The next step is the evolution towards prevention rather than simple detection and removal only as AV software performs. Very simply what Sandboxie does is to isolate programs like browsers in a separate space on the HDD and does not allow them to make changes to the computer Registry or file system and any malicious code that the sandboxed browser might be infected with will have no access to the computer either and will be destroyed when the sandbox is deleted or overwritten...

As long as everything that is transferred from the Sandbox to the computer is first scanned with Virus Total or any of many available on-demand virus scanners such as Malwarebytes before it is transferred to the computer then the computer will remain clean without the use of a resident Antivirus program.

~Maxx~

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[whs]

Most A/V's are there to tell you when you get infected

I don't know where you got this from. My AV programs block the malware - and I have seen that many times. Sandboxie is a nice concept, but for daily fluent operation it is a pain in the neck. I for my part am not prepared to jump thru all these hops for the minuscule chance to prevent an infection.

 

[I be he]

Most A/V's are there to tell you when you get infected

I don't know where you got this from. My AV programs block the malware - and I have seen that many times. Sandboxie is a nice concept, but for daily fluent operation it is a pain in the neck. I for my part am not prepared to jump thru all these hops for the minuscule chance to prevent an infection.

Except for your currant A/V this seems to be the general opinion ive been reading about for the past few years. I wasnt trying to start a kurfuffle just seems to be more and more the truth.
Lets put it this way, Everytime ive relied on a A/V without Sandboxie, or Returnil, or Comodo D+, or a Geswall type of app, ive been infected. With any of these apps 0. And all have been the free versions.
So basically we have " everytime vs never " I will be going with never untill that changes

 

[Maxxwire]

Most A/V's are there to tell you when you get infected

Sandboxie is a nice concept, but for daily fluent operation it is a pain in the neck. I for my part am not prepared to jump thru all these hops for the minuscule chance to prevent an infection.

If you read carefully you will know that I said...

You are absolutely right! Antivirus programs can do no more than to alert you that your computer is infected and then try to remove the Malware if they can.

Taking the time to learn how to use Sandboxie and set it up to use my browsers in its virtual space was well worth the result of having 2 completely clean computers for the last 2 years and was well worth the effort I put into it for me. I simply can not bring myself to use Antivirus software that cleans up after an infection that it could not prevent. I'm sorry if you do not agree, but I was infected 3 times in less than a year while using Norton 2009 and I have since sworn off using any black list Antivirus program which bases its effectiveness on frequent definitions updates since then.

Sandboxie has kept both of my computers completely clean ever since then and I am willing to take your criticism for wanting to prevent yet another Malware infection and keep my computers totally clean from Malware even though it took a few hours of my time 2 years ago on the friendly Sandboxie forums where the creator of the software Tzuk took some of his own time to help me to learn how to use Sandboxie in order to make this level of total prevention possible on my computers.

~Maxx~

 

[whs]

I like the word " kurfuffle " - although I can only guess what it means. And you are right, everybody should do what suits him/her best.

 

[Maxxwire]

And you are right, everybody should do what suits him/her best.

Yes, until they happen to find their computer repeatedly victimized by an inept AV Suite and seek a better and more effective solution.

~Maxx~
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[malexous]

I have since sworn off using any black list Antivirus program which bases its effectiveness on frequent definitions updates since then.

Norton (and others) is more than that these days.

 

[malwarecide]

Consider Zone Alarm free firewall

 

[Tepid]

Ok,, some of the information in this thread is just absolutely ridiculous and over paranoia.

1.) Applications like CCLeaner are not phoning home to track your usage. Therefore it IS NOT Spyware.
Prove it otherwise.

2.) No, not everything that does do a phone home for the purpose of checking for an update is considered Spyware. You are trying to change the definition, it's not going to work.

Spyware is software that phones home your usage habits of many things. Which is the sole purpose of Spyware.

Spyware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While the term spyware suggests software that secretly monitors the user's computing, the functions of spyware extend well beyond simple monitoring. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habits and sites that have been visited, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software and redirecting Web browser activity. Spyware is known to change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and/or loss of Internet connection or functionality of other programs. In an attempt to increase the understanding of spyware, a more formal classification of its included software types is provided by the term privacy-invasive software.

No, not everything is a threat. No matter how much someone wants to try and say so, it just plain isn't.

Anti-Virus software primary function is not there to tell you WHEN you get infected.
It's primary purpose is to prevent infection.
Telling you, you are infected is a Secondary function.

There is no software AV or Firewall suite that is going to protect you 100%, not even Sandboxie.

If you are having to use all that just to stay clean for any length of time, you need to change your surfing habits.

 

[I be he]

I agree, not all apps are spying when they phone home Or are they?
I agree an A/V's #1 goal is malware preventionHowever most are easily defeated, and its not just a matter of my or your surfing habits. Its part of the new reality of life on the internet, and its getting worse not better:shock: Some folks cant or wont see the distant early warning untill its too late:shock: Maybe.

 

[seth500]

I would use either Outpost or Comodo those are the two best imho to choose from. @ Maxwire can I choose to put the virtual drive on like my D: drive instead of my C: Drive for Sandboxie? The reason being I like to keep most programs that write alot to my ssd on another drive a mechanical drive by using Link Shell Extension Method. Ive done that with firefox and moved it off the ssd onto my d drive and also moved the appdata files from roaming as well so when I close the browser it's not erasing cookies and crap off of my ssd. I want to do the same with sandboxie...

 

[pparks1]

Please keep in mind that a lot of these programs are not phoning home as a means of tracking your usage.

as shown above, they are simply doing a check for the latest version of the software. You can easily go into settings and tell it not to check.

Not everything is a threat.

I tend to agree with this. Applications like Paint.Net run checks to see if new versions are available. It's simply convenient and easier on the forums for software like paint.net when consumers tend to be running the latest versions of the software. And even if programs did track usage, I don't really consider my usage of software as an invasion of privacy..for example, perhaps they were compiling statistics in a manner to evaluate a UI change or new functionality.

There is nothing wrong with those who are paranoid, but the overwhelming majority of us probably don't have a reason to be.

As far as a firewall, the built-in Windows firewall has done me fine. I've tested with the Comodo firewall recently and while it works well, it's also a PITA sometimes to get configured for things like Remote Desktop. I posted something on how to get RDP setup properly the other day in Comodo on these forums and I never really did get an answer other than suggestions to post on the Comodo forums as it was a difficult area. In my opinion, this should not be troublesome at all, it's a very common protocol and should be very simply. Let me create an access rule like I would on a router that says, "this range of IP's, are allowed to access port 3389 on this host". If you have a single box and need to really lock it down, then Comodo might be a great fit. I on the other hand have a home network and lots of hosts and other virtual machines and run quite a few server based type of things and I need a fair amount of access...especially from other hosts on my LAN. My hardware firewall keeps the folks on the WAN away. (unless I of course create a simple port forward rule to allow port 3389 (or whatever) into box x.x.x.x.

 

[Tepid]

I agree, not all apps are spying when they phone home Or are they?

No they are not.

I agree an A/V's #1 goal is malware preventionHowever most are easily defeated, and its not just a matter of my or your surfing habits.

A/V's do not nesscarily target all malware, they are not generally Malware/Spyware scanners. That is what Malwarebytes, Spybot and Ad-Aware are for.

They try to do what the others do better, but that is not the primary purpose.
Viruses are, not Malware/Spyware.

Its part of the new reality of life on the internet, and its getting worse not better:shock: Some folks cant or wont see the distant early warning untill its too late:shock: Maybe.

I really do not know where people get this from.
I have on occasions been infected. When that is?

I was hitting sites I should not have been.

I have not been infected in a very long time, since the wife opened a stupid email.
And since I convinced her to stop using Facebook and My Space.

Surfing habits have a whole lot to do with it.

 

[pparks1]

I'm sorry if you do not agree, but I was infected 3 times in less than a year while using Norton 2009 and I have since sworn off using any black list Antivirus program which bases its effectiveness on frequent definitions updates since then.

And if these are the experiences you have gone through, I can totally understand your position. I haven't been infected a total of 3 times in the past 5-7 years.

If you are having to use all that just to stay clean for any length of time, you need to change your surfing habits.

I have sandboxie installed on my machine. But I only fire it up on occasion. For example, a few months ago I had to jailbreak an iPad for an executive at work. Since I normally don't troll hacking and jailbreak sites, I elected to use sandboxie while I screwed around on those types of sites.

Generally speaking though, I have an AV loaded (MSE on my computer, Avast on wife's computer, and Trend on work computers), and I do an occasional MalwareBytes scan (which always come back clean). I use Firefox with AdBlock installed. And I even hit the occasional adult web site (however I have a few that I go to, I don't usually search for them and click on them), but I don't use any pirated software, I don't use P2P apps, I don't download warez, I don't get pirated movies, I don't play cracked games...and I just don't have problems with keeping my machines infection free with very little effort.

 

[seth500]

I'm sorry if you do not agree, but I was infected 3 times in less than a year while using Norton 2009 and I have since sworn off using any black list Antivirus program which bases its effectiveness on frequent definitions updates since then.

And if these are the experiences you have gone through, I can totally understand your position. I haven't been infected a total of 3 times in the past 5-7 years.

If you are having to use all that just to stay clean for any length of time, you need to change your surfing habits.

I have sandboxie installed on my machine. But I only fire it up on occasion. For example, a few months ago I had to jailbreak an iPad for an executive at work. Since I normally don't troll hacking and jailbreak sites, I elected to use sandboxie while I screwed around on those types of sites.

Generally speaking though, I have an AV loaded (MSE on my computer, Avast on wife's computer, and Trend on work computers), and I do an occasional MalwareBytes scan (which always come back clean). I use Firefox with AdBlock installed. And I even hit the occasional adult web site (however I have a few that I go to, I don't usually search for them and click on them), but I don't use any pirated software, I don't use P2P apps, I don't download warez, I don't get pirated movies, I don't play cracked games...and I just don't have problems with keeping my machines infection free with very little effort.

+1 for that!

 

[I be he]

While i will say you are correct, you still can avoid alot of problems by avoiding places that scream "infection here":shock: More and more of the nicer parts of town are becomming that place also. My ultimate point is so far the apps i listed earlier will do a way better job of protecting the peeps then an A/V + common sense.
I do understand your points though.

 

[Noxiide]

I got rid of Sandboxie long time ago. Too inconvenient. I rather do frequent images - just in case.

I have taken the time to learn how to use Sandboxie and I feel it has been worth it because I haven't had a single Malware detection on either of my computers since I started using it.

As far as frequent Windows partition imaging goes Macruim Reflect has saved my computer from more dangerous situations than I care to count! As an example after I found that Windows 7 SP1 had a critical bug I didn't even think about uninstalling it, but rather turned to the Macruim Reflect Image that I made just before installing SP1 and within 10 minutes the computer was back to running good ol' Win 7 RTM once again proving that Image restoration is the ultimate cure!

~Maxx~

I hope this doesn't make me sound stupid, but are images and system restore like the same thing? Like why do you make images, why don't you just use system restore? Are there benefits of making images?

 

[I be he]

I got rid of Sandboxie long time ago. Too inconvenient. I rather do frequent images - just in case.

I have taken the time to learn how to use Sandboxie and I feel it has been worth it because I haven't had a single Malware detection on either of my computers since I started using it.

As far as frequent Windows partition imaging goes Macruim Reflect has saved my computer from more dangerous situations than I care to count! As an example after I found that Windows 7 SP1 had a critical bug I didn't even think about uninstalling it, but rather turned to the Macruim Reflect Image that I made just before installing SP1 and within 10 minutes the computer was back to running good ol' Win 7 RTM once again proving that Image restoration is the ultimate cure!

~Maxx~

I hope this doesn't make me sound stupid, but are images and system restore like the same thing? Like why do you make images, why don't you just use system restore? Are there benefits of making images?

Sandboxie will save your a$$. It wont help if you are allready infected, this is where imaging & restore points come in.

 

[Maxxwire]

I hope this doesn't make me sound stupid, but are images and system restore like the same thing? Like why do you make images, why don't you just use system restore? Are there benefits of making images?

There are different kinds of Disk images. Although I do keep set of 25 GB each Windows 7 System Images over the years I have come to rely more on keeping 8-9 GB each Macruim Reflect Images that I can store very economically on a remote inert drive and restore very quickly with 100% accuracy unlike System Restore which does not restore everything on the Drive to its current state.

On my Vista laptop System Restore does not work at all so for backup I have been relying completely on Macrium Reflect Windows Partition Images for almost 2 years which are quick to apply and do a complete job of Image Restoration.

~Maxx~

 

[Maxxwire]

Sandboxie will save your a$$. It wont help if you are allready infected, this is where imaging & restore points come in.

Exactly! Running browsers in Sandboxie and keeping up to date squeaky clean Disc images provides excellent prevention and cure!

~Maxx~