What Firewall?

[Peoples-Agent]

Hi folks,

Just wondering what Firewall's people use around here?

Just going to get rid of McAfee as it's bloated and slows down my general net usage. Can anyone recommend a non-intrusive firewall that doesn't blocks things you actually want it to connect to?

Preferably a package that combines an Anti Virus and Firewall would be best, but I don't think there

are any viable alternatives out there, Norton is seriously Le Suck!

Thought I would do a poll to get a general feel for what people are using before I splash out more cash on a new one.

Any input??

Cheers

- D -

[bobpaul]

Well, I use iptables, which isn't on the list and won't help you much.

For windows machines the only firewall worth it's salt, though, is Sygate Firewall, which is no more. Whatever you use don't use Norton. I would also recommend against ZoneAlarm, and the XP firewall doesn't filter outbound, so that's no good in my book. Haven't tried the others.

You can still find Sygate Personal if you google it. I think pcmag has it available.

[evilghost]

iptables + firestarter with ingress/egress filtering. Kerio is actually pretty decent for button-monkeys.

[Zelda_fan]

Hi folks,

Just wondering what Firewall's people use around here?

Just going to get rid of McAfee as it's bloated and slows down my general net usage. Can anyone recommend a non-intrusive firewall that doesn't blocks things you actually want it to connect to?

Preferably a package that combines an Anti Virus and Firewall would be best, but I don't think there

are any viable alternatives out there, Norton is seriously Le Suck!

Thought I would do a poll to get a general feel for what people are using before I splash out more cash on a new one.

Any input??

Cheers

- D -

why not just use the XP SP2 firewall? If you want an extra firewall, then ZoneAlarm is a good choice.

[Peoples-Agent]

It's the outbound that I need too, XP Firewall doesn't cover that, which is a shame.

[tieros]

I use 8Signs on my Win servers. It reminds me a lot of Checkpoint (except affordable :D), so it takes a little longer to configure than some of the more basic ones. It's rule based, and comes with a nice GUI, so you have complete control over every aspect of inbound and outbound traffic.

For my RedHat servers, I use iptables and an external configuration wizard. I think it's Bastille, but I'm not sure.

[NightFire]

You could try WinPooch, after configuring it correctly. There's a guide up at Neowin, I believe. However, I've never tried it, so I can't vouch for its quality.

[rflair]

Sygate

[AthlonXP1800]

All popular firewall applications are bloated so here are only 1 firewall software use the smallest memory footprint is Black ICE firewall, if you want a firewall that do not use memory and CPU resources, get a router that has built-in hardware firewall.

[Peoples-Agent]

Yeah, I do have a Hardware firewall on my router, but I have to allow ports for certain apps, leaves it wide open.

Black ICE, i'll look into that.

[zoomy942]

windows firewall for me. i want to show some love for the nvidia firewal, i really do, but it never seems to work how it should

[Mr_LoL]

Zone alarm is good and free. Avast antivirus is also good and free. These are the two things I recommend.

[darkrider01]

I use the firewall that is built into my router. Hardware firewall is best (pirate)

[wnd]

iptables in daily life and wirecutters in an emergency.

[supra]

Kerio user here but tried Sygate, Notorn, TPF, BlackIce, ZoneAlarm, nvHardware firewall.

Out of all of them I like kerio the best.

[top3koms]

Zone alarm is good and free. Avast antivirus is also good and free. These are the two things I recommend.

Both have been working fine for me as well.I would prefer to use sygate as my software firewall but since it has been taken over by symantec/norton I have been looking to alternate solutions.

[evilchris]

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/vpndevc/ps2030/ps2119/

Go with that.

[j0j081]

I use the firewall that is built into my router. Hardware firewall is best (pirate)
2nd that. (nana2)

[Peoples-Agent]

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/vpndevc/ps2030/ps2119/

Go with that.

Heheh ....Now that's some piece of kit.

I do have a firewall on my Router already but have to open various ports for different things because uPNP is Le Suck!

Ack... I dunno, let the blighters in, not like I have anything that incriminating.

[rewt]

I use the firewall that is built into my router. Hardware firewall is best (pirate)

A hardware firewall is best because it keeps intruders away from from your machine. In other words, if an attacker wants to get into your PC, he or she has to to go thru the router's firewall first.

However a hardware firewall still can have its weak points. Especially those that are misconfigured, such as having UPnP enabled for example. UPnP allows applications on your machine to start opening ports on the router/firewall at will. So, say you downloaded a malicious app that opened port on your hardware firewall. Then you are completely vulnerable to an attack.

Therefore having a software firewall on your PC is still a good idea for maximum security. Although I don't use one, (because I am careful what applications I download and run) I would probably recommend ZoneAlarm or Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall for a machine running Windows. BlackICE, Tiny Personal Firewall are probably good ones too. Pretty much anything except Norton or McAfee... :-/

[supra]

actually I found NIS 05 to be pretty dam secure, only problem was that it was resource hog

[backinblack]

For now my choice is AVG. Norton and Kerio just don't seem to work very well.

[supra]

For now my choice is AVG. Norton and Kerio just don't seem to work very well.

avg has a firewall?

[rewt]

Yes. According to their website they have a AVG + firewall edition.

[Capt. Picard]

I use Trend PCcillin. How is that? How is its anti virus too?