Good firewall program?

harpua · 30 Oct 2009

hackerman1 said:

hi !

harpua: "I just routinely run defense plus in training mode (it just learns everything without alerting you of anything in training mode)"

that´s not a very good idea, because then it "accepts" everything...

it´s only recommended to run i "training-mode" for a short period of time after it´s been installed, or after you have installed new software, that is has to learn the behavior of.

go up 1 or 2 steps to "clean" / "safe" instead, then switch to "training" when you have installed new software, then switch back as soon as possible, after a day or two.

i run in "safe-mode" and i switch to "training" before i install something (to reduce pop-up´s, ) so i don´t see many of them.

Thanks for the suggestion, however, I want it to accept everything so I'm not bothered by it unless and until I'm about to install something new that I don't fully trust and want to monitor what it's doing. I just install and uninstall so many apps on a daily or almost daily basis that, for me, it's more trouble than it's worth most of the time.

But just before I want to install something that I don't fully trust, that's when I turn up the protection level. My reasoning is that D+ cannot have been "trained" to "accept" an app that wasn't installed yet. Works for me. YMMV of course.

Anyway, if I do screw up, I have plenty of recent backup clones and images on detached hard drives to restore from. That (i.e, good system backups), of course, is the ultimate security.

torrentg · 31 Oct 2009

Harpua, Zone Alarm Extreme would suit you perfectly.

torrentg · 31 Oct 2009

hackerman1 said:

hi !

rogermac: "I just ran the windows firewall on Steve Gibsons sight "Shields Up" and it passed with flying colors."

yes, it does.
it blocks incoming connections.
but you should test windows firewall with Comodo´s LeakTest (CLT)....
i have tested a few firewalls the last months, and windows firewall has lots of leaks, meaning it doesn´t block outgoing connections.

It does perfectly well if you configure it so for any said .exe.

hackerman1 · 31 Oct 2009

hi !

torrentg: "It does perfectly well if you configure it so for any said .exe."

yes, i know that people say you can make it better, AFTER doing a lot of manual configuring.

but as "standard"...

torrentg · 31 Oct 2009

Right, ya I hear that. Microsoft should make a gui for it along the lines of what ZA is.

Creer · 31 Oct 2009

Windows Vista/7 built-in firewall is efficient, but this fw is not very user-friendly.
You can use 3rd party software to manage this built-in fw - I mean here, very light for resources Windows 7 Firewall Control Windows 7 Firewall Control : Sphinx Software

If you need complex fully configurable pure firewall Look'n'Stop 2.07 http://www.looknstop.com/En/index2.htm
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=255892 is the best choice. Others firewall on the market offers HIPS modules, WWW modules, etc, etc - they are good but since you ask for FW I don't recommend you tandem: FW+HIPS right now.

Snufffed · 31 Oct 2009

I'm very happy with ESET Firewall, I simply turn it to INTERACTIVE MODE.

ea to there own.... I also have found that the Win 7 Firewall is very effective. Mostly GEEKS-NURDs-Pirates-and I want to be's use 3rd party programs.

ignatzatsonic · 31 Oct 2009

Why would it be important if the Windows Firewall (or any other firewall) controlled outbound connections if it successfully prevented inbound connections? If a firewall needs to protect against outbound, then it has been compromised by definition.

I'm just asking. Maybe there is a reason.

Qdos · 31 Oct 2009

I find Symantec Endpoint pretty good, albeit the rules section isn't 'novice friendly' to some degree. That said you can block applications from making outbound connections, and adjust hundreds of other parametres.

torrentg · 01 Nov 2009

ignatzatsonic said:

Why would it be important if the Windows Firewall (or any other firewall) controlled outbound connections if it successfully prevented inbound connections? If a firewall needs to protect against outbound, then it has been compromised by definition.

I'm just asking. Maybe there is a reason.

Not necessarily at all.

Open an app. Apps wants to send packets to developer. Firewall blocks.