Hi Everyone, I was wondering what firewall software you all use, and what you'd recommend (might be different)...
I dumped Zonealarm and moved over to using Comodo. For me Zonealarm would always result in a delay of around 2 minutes before you could use the PC after having logged on, tried various things to fix this, a remove and re-install would fix the problem but a few days later and the same problem. Looked around the web and noticed a lot of people having the same so decided to look around and found Comodo.
I recommend not bothering with ZoneAlarm, not only is it a bit fat, and often causes problems, but there are many script-kiddy utilities that simply bypass the thing at the click of a button. What're you connecting through?
The latest ZoneAlarm is bundling (and installing) the full security suite in the free download, want it or not, all ready to unlock if you register or opt for the free trial. The AV section is based on Kaspersky (with a few common filenames) and it fouled up my real KAV install, which made me unhappy. I tried another free one, Online Armor, that's had good reviews but it pops up warnings far too often to my mind. YMMV. I'm using the XP firewall ATM with the hard security in the router's SPI. WFM.
Comodo Personal Firewall (Vista compatible) is always highly regarded in software firewall reviews. And Webroot have now made their Desktop Firewall FREE of charge (also Vista compatible) Try them both for a while, then decide which one you prefer/suits your needs best
Well, I'm trying Commodo ATM, and it seems okay so far. It was annoying that its own 'Learning' pop-ups covered it's 'what should I do with this application' dialogs, especially given that on first start-up post-install all my other programs were trying to connect. I'm not so keen on the fact that it looks like it's trying to hide the real details from me.
Comodo. ZoneAlarm gave me problems with my PVR app, and I certainly wasn't going to get rid of that. I only wish there were a better solution for the pop-up dialogs in regards to full-screen games, but at least I can add the app to the whitelist with a few mouse clicks beforehand.
I believe Kerio is meant to be excellent. Used to be free but I think they still provide a free version on their site somewhere.
+1 for Comodo, I installed it on my mom's PC and it just works.. Mind you that my mom only uses it to read mail and surf the web. ANYthing abnormal (Dialogues and stuff makes her nervous) she gives me a call.
I used to have ZoneAlarm, but I found that it ate up too many resources... and had unneccesary antivirus and stuff that I never used.
Yes I did. My friend's cats hassled me to add a few points. They were right. Firewall question is a security question. By removing vectors of problems via the net the system may be slightly harden. Portable Flash device and Email attachment are real threats. Cheers. And i edited again.
Why Windows Firewall? I am sicked of badly written codes in Firewall software. These things hooked into the Kernel so tightly, removing them can be a hazard. I had my home PC with Windows XP died irrecoverably when 3rd party firewall was uninstalled.
