Hi there fellow computerites.

Was wondering if you could recommend a Firewall to me (software one).

My subscription to Zone Alarm has expired and I don't want to renew it as it is a resouirce hog, takes ages to start up, and is forever ignoring my ruls and blocking and allowing traffic willy nilly.

More of a headache than a useful tool.

So was wondering what the top firewalls are out there.

I was searching last night, but all roads seemed to point to Zone Alarm. I couldn't find any other ones that were as "good" as it.

I just want a firewall that was as good as Zone Alarm before they got bought out. I want it to be pretty manual so that I can see what is coming in and going out, and I want to be able to configure the rules and have them stay that way, without it suddenly deciding it is going to block my Firefox browser or AntiVirus software and allow everything Internet Explorer related just because it thinks that is safer for me.

Any recommendations will be appreciated. I will search again for reviews tonight.

Regards,

Yeah, Zone Alarm has gone to crap for a while now.
Whatever you do, don't follow this review:)
http://personal-firewall-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Personally, I hate everything Norton and McAfee make, lol. Too much unwanted junk. Outpost is good and free, but heavy on resources. Right now, I'm using Kerio Personal Firewall and having no troubles on XP(a compatible Vista version is being released soon). Give it a try (http://rs105.rapidshare.com/files/44971116/SPFirewall_4.5_Build_916.zip):thumb:

Yeah, Zone Alarm has gone to crap for a while now.
Whatever you do, don't follow this review:)
http://personal-firewall-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Personally, I hate everything Norton and McAfee make, lol. Too much unwanted junk. Outpost is good and free, but heavy on resources. Right now, I'm using Kerio Personal Firewall and having no troubles on XP(a compatible Vista version is being released soon). Give it a try (http://rs105.rapidshare.com/files/44971116/SPFirewall_4.5_Build_916.zip):thumb:

Hi there,

I had heard about this one and rate your recommendations, Pod God.

:yourock:

Other recommendations I have had are CA Personal Firewall, and I also noticed the free PC Tools Firewall (tempted because I have their Spyware Doctor software) and the Sunbelt Personal Firewall (which is the Kerio Personal Firewall that you talk about - D'oh !).

:thumb:

CA Personal Firewall is very good. Haven't tried the PC Tools one (but I will now, lol).
My favorite all time is Sygate, but they were bought out by Symantec(Norton) and they discontinued it. Bastards!:mad: You can still get it on torrent sites, but I'd prefer not to use something that isn't supported with updates.

CA Personal Firewall is very good. Haven't tried the PC Tools one (but I will now, lol).
My favorite all time is Sygate, but they were bought out by Symantec(Norton) and they discontinued it. Bastards!:mad: You can still get it on torrent sites, but I'd prefer not to use something that isn't supported with updates.

Which one would you say is better out of the two ? CA Personal Firewall, or Sunbelt Personal Firewall ?

I have a colleague at work who says the CA Personal Firewall is the best one that he has ever used.

:dunno:

I see there are trial versions for both, so I will have a crack at both of them and see which one I like the best.

:thumb:

Try CA first... then you can tell me:D
Honestly, I haven't used it personally. I have done work on systems(not firewall related) with it installed and everyone praises it. It reminds me of Zone Alarm a bit. It seems very stable. I have seen some bad reviews of it though. If you want a trouble free setup, go with Kerio/Sunbelt. If you feel like testing...CA:)

Try CA first... then you can tell me:D
Honestly, I haven't used it personally. I have done work on systems(not firewall related) with it installed and everyone praises it. It reminds me of Zone Alarm a bit. It seems very stable. I have seen some bad reviews of it though. If you want a trouble free setup, go with Kerio/Sunbelt. If you feel like testing...CA:)

Okey doke mate. Well, as a software tester, I will give them both a try.

:thumb:

I have seen some blinding reviews of Zone Alarm as well mate. And it's a pile of poo !

:lol:

I have seen some blinding reviews of Zone Alarm as well mate. And it's a pile of poo !

:lol:

So true, so true. It's a shame cause it used to be an excellent program... solid as a rock! You might recognize CA. It used to be called Tiny Personal Firewall... an old favorite of many users.

So true, so true. It's a shame cause it used to be an excellent program... solid as a rock! You might recognize CA. It used to be called Tiny Personal Firewall... an old favorite of many users.

Yeah, I used to love Zone Alarm, but with every update it has just got worse an d worse and taken longer to load up at bootup.

Yeah, been looking at the history of CA, and recognised it. I'll make my mind up one way or the other in the end.

:notme:

I'm testing the PC Tools one now. Installation was a bit of a pain(had to reboot and install twice) but it's up and running now. Nice GUI and easy to setup:thumb:

Linux!!!

Bear with me a moment. You don't have to use it on your personal computer.

Buy an old computer, anything 386 and above though you have to know your shit to get it installed on anything REALLY old. People give away their old Pentium 1 computers all the time (and yes, I know someone that still uses one :p)

Put Linux on that sucker and configure it as a network gateway for your home network. Make sure to make judicious use of its firewall features. Not only that, if you use it as a NAT gateway there is very little chance of any attacks getting to your windows PC.

The Linux box just sits there blocking the big bad world from your windows PC that can't handle half the shit out there. Most things that try to attack aren't even built to attack this thing. The firewall does a great job of blocking that that is.

You'll have to do some reading...learning...but it's worth it. You know how to protect those POS windows PC's and life becomes MUCH more pleasant without having to have 90% of the resources taken up with anti-fuckitallup measures. Those super fast processors and gobs of memory will actually be available for...gasp...running your programs.

You could always get a watchguard, and it's easier, but I just told you how to build one out of cheap parts ;)

Sygate crashed on me today and totally blocked all access, no connection, took ages to work it out as everything looked ok. Uninstalled and replaced with PC Tools, which installed easily and seems to be running fine. Dont even mention Zone Alarm to me, I have to buy another 2 books from a book club I joined to get the full version free for a year ... I took it off a day later, what a pile of poo!!! Convenient this thread is here, will try other options if PC Tools plays up :)

Linux!!!

Bear with me a moment. You don't have to use it on your personal computer.

Buy an old computer, anything 386 and above though you have to know your shit to get it installed on anything REALLY old. People give away their old Pentium 1 computers all the time (and yes, I know someone that still uses one :p)

Put Linux on that sucker and configure it as a network gateway for your home network. Make sure to make judicious use of its firewall features. Not only that, if you use it as a NAT gateway there is very little chance of any attacks getting to your windows PC.

The Linux box just sits there blocking the big bad world from your windows PC that can't handle half the shit out there. Most things that try to attack aren't even built to attack this thing. The firewall does a great job of blocking that that is.

You'll have to do some reading...learning...but it's worth it. You know how to protect those POS windows PC's and life becomes MUCH more pleasant without having to have 90% of the resources taken up with anti-fuckitallup measures. Those super fast processors and gobs of memory will actually be available for...gasp...running your programs.

You could always get a watchguard, and it's easier, but I just told you how to build one out of cheap parts ;)

Hi there Noah,

I understand where you are coming from with this, but this seems to be a heck of a headache. I'm not sure I'd be able to set the machine up as a Network Gateway and that it would be as easy to do as you suggest.

Maybe if I did have the time someday I would get onto it. But I just know I wouldn't have the time, and I'd never get around to completing it.

Unless of course you can recommend some reading material so that I could convince myself that it would be easier than I suspect at the moment.

:thumb:

Hi there Noah,

I understand where you are coming from with this, but this seems to be a heck of a headache. I'm not sure I'd be able to set the machine up as a Network Gateway and that it would be as easy to do as you suggest.

Maybe if I did have the time someday I would get onto it. But I just know I wouldn't have the time, and I'd never get around to completing it.

Unless of course you can recommend some reading material so that I could convince myself that it would be easier than I suspect at the moment.

:thumb:

Did a quick web search and found this: http://www.ipcop.org/

Looks like exactly what you need. No, it isn't necessarily going to be "easy" since you might need to learn a few things about networking. But once you do, it becomes easier to work with your computer network and these linux boxes have a tendency to just stay working. I've had a couple around that have been active for years...one at my grandmother's house...one I used as a firewall and gateway before I just got a wireless hub...so it's like a one time cost and maybe some minor upkeep if you're paranoid.

Anyway, that site has plenty of documentation so you can look and see if it's something you can and want to do.

BUMP! Had this one recommended to me recently. I really like it. No leaks and it detects everything:thumb:

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

I installed Comodo Firewall Pro today and it works fantastically well...interface is very use friendly, setup was a breeze, and the best part is my pages are still loading quickly.

Thanks PodGod, this is a great one.

I installed Comodo Firewall Pro today and it works fantastically well...interface is very use friendly, setup was a breeze, and the best part is my pages are still loading quickly.

Thanks PodGod, this is a great one.

No problem. Check out the AV and anti-malware as well from them. All free and working great!:thumb:

No problem. Check out the AV and anti-malware as well from them. All free and working great!:thumb:

Yes, just installed the anti-malware program as well...that should hopefully prevent me from having to run Ad-Aware anymore.

I'm not so sure about the AV though...I've been trying to find some comparative analysis and look at where Comodo's rates...dead last! EEK!

http://www.malware-test.com/

I have no clue how accurate their testing is, but it kind of worried me to see it like that. I'm using Avira AntiVir right now and that's supposed to be one of the top. I'd check into that one.

Anyone else having troubles with Comodo Firewall? I keep getting connection lockups with this program. Everything will run fine as long as I'm using the internet, but if I take long breaks, I'll come back on and IE won't even load the homepage. The only solution I can find is to reboot the system. Needless to say, I got aggrevated and just uninstalled it.

I just tried Kerio that PodGod put up and I'm getting lockups almost instantly. Man, this machine just does not like firewalls.

No problems here. Not sure why that's happening:headscratch: But I use Firefox and Safari and steer clear of IE.

No problems here. Not sure why that's happening:headscratch: But I use Firefox and Safari and steer clear of IE.

I don't think its any of the programs actually. I uninstalled all the firewalls and it's still happening a lot. I'm not sure what's going on here exactly.

I'm starting to think my modem has gone bad. :upset:

The only Firewall I use is the one that comes with XP. I run an antivirus every week from a CD (I got tired of having them Panda´s-Macfees, etc. system resource hog eaters and just trashed them off). Spyware, I check it out manually, using reg-edit whenever I see some new "unwanted" process is running, which barely happens. Been happy ever since I decided to live without so many "miracle clean up" software (be damn sure most of them are malware). I haven´t had any prob in a year so I´m sticking this way.