Firewall slowdown

[jsmoline]

Hello,
As I stated in a previous post, I am using Windows firewall and have uninstalled third party ( Online Armor) firewall. Now my download speeds are slower on my bandwidth tests. Is this normal? I'm guessing that the Windows firewall enabled something that has slowed me down. Any ideas on this one? Thanks,
John

 

[Jacee]

Edit .... look in Services to see if anything from Online Armor might not have been uninstalled, and is still running.

 

[jsmoline]

Couldn't find anything in services related to Online Armor. I noticed that teredo tunneling pseudo-interface in device manager has the yellow ! It says this device cannot start (code 10) Any idea what that means?

 

[Jacee]

Here's another discussion ... see if this might be your problem
http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/80308-teredo-tunneling.html

 

[Jacee]

Also, in this page, it tells how to completely uninstall Online Armor
How to Uninstall Online Armor - Online Armor forums

 

[jsmoline]

Thanks,
I did have ZA free installed. I unistalled it and it was a pain. Don't know what to look for now

 

[Max Peck]

Is your machine sitting behind a router? If it is, you probably do not need to be running a software firewall at all. I'd suggest turning it off altogether if this is the case and it's affecting your bandwidth. Try your test both with it on and off. If it does make a difference you're probably safe leaving it off, at-least when behind your router. In Win7 you can configure the firewall to be on or off depending on whether you're home or on a public network.

-Max

 

[jsmoline]

Thanks, I'm behind a router. Uninstalled software firewall. Windows firewall on or off doesn't make a difference. You should know that one of the firewalls I tried was Zone Alarm free. What a pain to get rid of. I think that's part of my problem.

 

[Jacee]

ZoneAlarm Removal Tool: Click here > [URL="http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/support/cpes_clean.exe"]http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/fr...cpes_clean.exe[/URL]Save to desktop, right click and "run as administrator"This tool will remove all ZoneAlarm products from your system.
(Direct download)

 

[severedsolo]

Zone Alarm BREAKS Windows 7.... just to warn you and anyone else who comes across this, I have always used Zone Alarm, well for about 5 years since i learnt what a firewall was... but it doesn't like Windows 7, My Zone Alarm Security Suite ripped up my file system once a week and forced a reinstall, I didnt even realise it was doing it, I thought my HDD was failing, until i uninstalled it because i noticed it wasnt stealthing the ports properly, suddenly the BSOD's all stopped.

In summary, Zone Alarm + Windows 7 = DIE!

 

[jsmoline]

Thanks,
I already found and used the removal tool. Shut down pc and router and restarted. Found this at the ZA forums. This is still my favorite forum. Thanks again,
John

 

[Jacee]

Good! Thanks for reporting back

 

[Max Peck]

Zone Alarm BREAKS Windows 7.... <snip>

Ugh ...

I've never cared for software firewalls. They're good to have if your internet pipe is directly to your machine but if you're behind a router (which you really ought to be) they are pretty useless.

-Max

 

[jsmoline]

I agree and I am behind a router

 

[EpiCenter]

Zone Alarm BREAKS Windows 7.... <snip>

Ugh ...

I've never cared for software firewalls. They're good to have if your internet pipe is directly to your machine but if you're behind a router (which you really ought to be) they are pretty useless.

But how do you prevent things from your machine calling out?

I would prefer to be the one to decide if a program gets to phone home.

 

[Jacee]

You can download the free version of sphinx 'firewall control'
Windows 7 Firewall Control : Sphinx Software

 

[EpiCenter]

You can download the free version of sphinx 'firewall control'
Windows 7 Firewall Control : Sphinx Software

Holy crap that was a noisy sound! Nearly gave me a heartattack!

Apart from that it seems promising, I'll test it out thanks

 

[EpiCenter]

Hm, doesn't prevent ping from getting through. Tsk tsk.

 

[Keiichi25]

Well, there is a partial reason for not preventing ping... Mostly it is there to determine if a server is reachable before trying to establish a connection.. You could just simply block all ICMP based traffic.

I know that ESET's Smart Security had a flag to block ICMP based attacks which blocked my Cyberkit's Traceroute functionality until I disabled it so I could use the program properly.