firewall

[joeirish]

Hi all ,
do you use a personal firewall such as Zone Alarm , Comodo , etc or the built in Windows firewall and do you think windows firewall does a good job

 

[alwinwinjoe]

Windows firewall does very well but if you want to do something about your outbound connections well you might need to do some more tweaking on the Win Firewall.

IMO Checkpoint's ZoneAlarm Firewall has some issues in Windows 7.

 

[joeirish]

ok allwinjoe , i think i will just stay with the windows firewall

 

[jav]

ok allwinjoe , i think i will just stay with the windows firewall

you may like have a look at this:
Windows 7 Firewall Control : Sphinx Software

Windows7FirewallControl is completely based on Windows Filtering Platform (WFP), the security core introduced in Windows Vista and does not install any third party kernel drivers. The Built-in Firewall is based on the same WFP as well. The both products work entirely independently. Windows7FirewallControl uses the Built-in Firewall only once, at the first start to grab the initial settings. Due to complete product independence you can switch the Built-in Firewall ON or OFF at your option.

 

[joeirish]

very nice Jav , cheers

 

[manhunter2826]

Kerio is another firewall, available in a free version.
Free Firewall Software ? Sunbelt Personal Firewall

 

[WDAexodus]

After reading an article in Maximum PC about pc sercurity I got rid of zonealarm and used windows firewall. They were testing free AV's and spyware programs and they tested Threatfire which at that time was fairly new. They said that having Threatfire paired with a good AV such as Avast, AVG, or whatever you think is good and using Windows Defender that home users would be very secure. I've been running with setup since and haven't had a problem. I use Avira for my AV.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/internet_security_2_0?page=0%2C5

 

[CarlTR6]

I previously used Zone Alarm (free version) before I had a router. I now use the Windows firewall and my router's firewall.

 

[hackerman1]

hi !

Kerio is another firewall, available in a free version.
Free Firewall Software ? Sunbelt Personal Firewall

Firewall ???

take a look at: Results and comments - www.matousec.com

it´s #24 on the list with 5% (FIVE) score, reached level 1
do you mean a joke ?

no protection there....

 

[kronckew]

i am prejudiced, but outpost firewall is one of the top ones in the matousec list. version 6.7.2 is now out & it's working fine on my win7 x64 and is a lot easier to control than the win7 inbuilt firewall and has other advantages, IP blocklists, anti-malware, ad filtering, HIPS, anti-spam, and more that win7's does not. there is a free version that has some non-critical features disabled or restricted compared to the pro paid versions, and a 30 day trial version without restrictions if you liked the free one & want to try before you buy the pro version. outpost also has a free online support forum run by users like myself who like helping people. and version 7 will be out on public beta in the near future.

 

[TheIgster]

PC Tools Firewall Plus. Very easy to configure and free:

PC Tools Firewall Plus - Free Firewall Download

Also scored 100% on Results and comments - www.matousec.com

 

[hackerman1]

hi !

WDAexodus: Threatfire is #25 on Matousec´s list....

 

[logicearth]

I am behind a hardware firewall, making a full featured firewall on my computer worthless absolutely worthless. I barely even have the Windows Firewall active, there is just no point in it when the only work it will have is legitimate traffic.

 

[kronckew]

I am behind a hardware firewall, making a full featured firewall on my computer worthless absolutely worthless. I barely even have the Windows Firewall active, there is just no point in it when the only work it will have is legitimate traffic.

hardware firewalls/routers only protect you from stuff originating on the dirty side of the device, on the clean side you are vulnerable to others on the lan subnet, tho hopefully if they are in your home you have some control over the lan members and have full wifi security (wpa2) enabled for the hackers that might 'borrow' your WAP...

they also do not protect you from traffic originating on your own pc, such as that from malware - trojan, spyware, virii etc. - or from you connecting to dodgy sites that might infect you since you originated the connection.

win7's firewall is a step up from the xp firewall in that you do have control over outgoing applications, but the interface for rules is awkward if you have anything more than the basic applications.

then there are the 'leaks' that matousec tests against & which form the basis for his ranking list for s/w firewalls. h/w firewalls are pretty much transparent to those exploits. his list is a bit out of date, as newer less vulnerable versions of some of the listed ones are now available.

h/w firewalls are a usefull adjunct as they will intercept a number of attacks, such as DOS (denial of service) and thus take quite a load off any software firewall so as to lessen it's impact on performance while you are under attack. the windows firewall is the bare minimum of protection.

 

[logicearth]

they also do not protect you from traffic originating on your own pc, such as that from malware - trojan, spyware, virii etc. - or from you connecting to dodgy sites that might infect you since you originated the connection.

If you are the type to install malware on your computers, then a firewall is the least of your concerns. Firewalls stopping malware is a ridiculous notion, that is not there job. A software firewall would not protect you from a dodgy site either, that task is left to a content filter. A firewall is merely a tool to allow authorized traffic through and block unauthorized traffic, that is all.

No, a full-blown firewall is as I said worthless absolutely worthless on my systems. I would actually like to get work done not micro-managing my computer.

 

[TheIgster]

No, a full-blown firewall is as I said worthless absolutely worthless on my systems. I would actually like to get work done not micro-managing my computer.

I used to say the same thing and while the hardware firewall does quite well, sometimes software gets installed on my system either without me knowing it along with something else or because sometimes I visit sites maybe I shouldn't. That's what the software firewall is for. You say micro-managing, I say being in control of what comes in and what goes out on my system.

 

[Tews]

No, a full-blown firewall is as I said worthless absolutely worthless on my systems. I would actually like to get work done not micro-managing my computer.

I used to say the same thing and while the hardware firewall does quite well, sometimes software gets installed on my system either without me knowing it along with something else or because sometimes I visit sites maybe I shouldn't. That's what the software firewall is for. You say micro-managing, I say being in control of what comes in and what goes out on my system.

+1 .. its another layer of the Secruity Onion!!

 

[polarbear]

PC Tools Firewall Plus. Very easy to configure and free:

PC Tools Firewall Plus - Free Firewall Download

Also scored 100% on Results and comments - www.matousec.com

Downloaded the above software last night to test... Well running the last test. ( leaktest) if failed. GL

 

[hackerman1]

hi!

"Downloaded the above software last night to test... Well running the last test. ( leaktest) if failed"

do you mean Comodo´s LeakTest (CLT) ?
where you running with an admin or user-account ?

 

[polarbear]

hi!

"Downloaded the above software last night to test... Well running the last test. ( leaktest) if failed"

do you mean Comodo´s LeakTest (CLT) ?
where you running with an admin or user-account ?

Gibsons Research Corp. GRC.com

Ran it from with my Admin account. I did get the choice from PC-Tools to block which I selected but it failed right after. If running PC-Tools, give it a try. GL

Windows 7 Firewall Control did pass the same test.