I need a decent firewall suggestion

Maxxwire said:

Jacee said:

Nearly every new program I install wants to phone home during the installation and even plugging in or unplugging a USB device can prompt a call to Redmond

@ Maxxwire, are you talking about "Software Protection" in services?

No, I was referring to how the Comodo Firewall when set in Custom Policy Mode will prevent any unauthorized access to the internet as when these 2 Piriform programs tried to 'phone home' during the installation process. As can be seen they were both trying to call the same number without success...

~Maxx~

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.

Tepid said:

Not everything is a threat.

The definition of Spyware is any program that tries to pass information to the internet without the computer operator's express permission. Now you're telling us that in your definition some Spyware is benign? Could you please show us your list of approved Spyware along with documented proof that its information gathering is not a threat?

I always instruct every program I install not to phone home for updates or for any other reason so please show us in exacting detail how you tell exactly packet for packet what these programs are communicating that makes you 100% sure that no personal information is being transmitted by these scores of programs that phone home without prior authorization many of which call even before they are installed or are you just using a 'hoping for the best' computer security strategy???

~Maxx~

You never said which AV program you are running. E.g in my NIS2011 I can make the same settings as in Commodo. Maybe you want to check with your AV program. Then you would not have to install another piece of software.

EchoX860 said:

How did you get your Comodo Purple? mine's black

The Mindlessmissy themes for Comodo and instructions are in This Thread, but you will have to dig around to find the download link for the .zip file that used to be on the first page of the thread.

~Maxx~

whs said:

You never said which AV program you are running. E.g in my NIS2011 I can make the same settings as in Commodo. Maybe you want to check with your AV program. Then you would not have to install another piece of software.

I literally run things as simple as possible and for me that means no cumbersome blacklist Antivirus program because by the time it reacts the computer is already infected. Two years ago I replaced my Antivirus with Sandboxie which prevents infection rather than telling me my computer is already infected.



Ever since then an ounce of Sandboxie prevention has been worth a pound of Antivirus cure! With Norton 2009 AV I had 3 infections in less than 1 year while Sandboxie has kept both of my computers 100% clean for almost 2 years!

~Maxx~



PS- Comodo is spelled with only 1 m.

I got rid of Sandboxie long time ago. Too inconvenient. I rather do frequent images - just in case. And NIS2011 has done a pretty decent job - up to now. I guess everybody has their own ways.

whs said:

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 be he said:

whs said:

I got rid of Sandboxie long time ago. Too inconvenient. I rather do frequent images - just in case. And NIS2011 has done a pretty decent job - up to now. I guess everybody has their own ways.

Pretty decent? Have you had something get through? Ive heard NIS 2011 was as good as it gets for complete A/V suites. Please share.

On my my 3 main systems, I always used NIS. Never had a problem. On my other 3 systems I have experimented with MSE, McAfee and others. MSE was the only one that let 2 Trojans thru. But that could have been just bad luck.

I rely more on my images than on the AV programs. That always allows me to bail myself out.