Firewalls either work or they don’t, and they don’t really need updates etc.
It may be possible to get an old boxed version of a good “internet security suite” (eg. Bitdefender) fairly cheaply and just use it for the firewall, making sure to disable the anti-virus parts. I’m doing just that right now!
That’s not as true as most people believe, as things change. 1, Problems cant be found internally in the firewall that needs changing maybe BO issues or inefficient code. 2, Just the fact that the internet has changed and the firewall needs to to catch up, ie virus or POC issues being found and fixed. If you running a hardware firewall say in your router then of course that can’t be changed so simply and it’s more robust protection anyway but with a software firewall you should really upgrade.
I agree. Try doing some tests on yourself to see if you are stealth or pass leak tests. Software is changing constantly to keep up to today’s issues.
Hi Guys,
I am currently using
Windows Vista Home Premium
Avast 4.8 Free
MBAM Free
Online Armor Free
I am thinking about upgrading to Online Armor Premium , but have a question about it . I see that it comes with a web shield . Do i need to disable it or will it work with Avast ok ?
Thanks
JOEY
Although they got the same name, they don’t seem to do the same thing at all, so may be you can keep them both running; may be an issue with Avast Network Shield though…
Web ShieldMost threats today are spread through web pages on the internet. Attackers can create their own website that appears to be a legitimate website, hack into legitimate websites and add malicious code to be delivered to unsuspecting visitors, or by joining advertising networks and embedding malicious objects in advertisements that get displayed on legitimate websites. There are many different forms that web threats can take, and Online Armor is designed to be as comprehensive as possible without interfering with the website’s layout.
Rather than trying to identify every dangerous or fraudulent website on the internet, which can come and go very rapidly, Online Armor protects you against many of the dangerous tricks and web objects used to scam you or infect your computer.
Online Armor’s Web Shield will filter potentially dangerous web objects, malicious security tricks used by attackers/fraudsters, and Block malicious/fraudulent websites before your computer can load them. When a website tries to load a potentially malicious object, Online Armor will pop-up and ask you if you want to Allow or Block the object. The Web Shield can also be configured to filter all objects silently and replace the filtered items with a placeholder showing that the item was blocked.
The Web Shield additionally checks to make sure that when you visit a financial, or other important website that you are taken to the website you expect and not a fraudulent one.
Online Armor’s Web Shield can also automatically and silently filter dangerous content from specified websites that that you do not trust to be safe but have content you want to view.
The Web Shield can be configured from “Web Sites” in the main menu of the Online Armor Control Panel.
Note: This feature is not available in Online Armor Free.
The Privatefirewall works well with avast!.
http://www.privacyware.com/personal_firewall.html
No Worrries! I’m well acquainted with the ShieldsUp site! No leaks and super stealth!
I agree that if your firewall uses whitelists or blacklists then these would need to be updated.
Otherwise it’s just a matter of keeping your ports locked down and careful authorisation of those programs that want to use the internet. I will only change my firewall if I change my operating system, or my PC.
Or when Avast 5 comes out… 
I’ve had no problems using Avast 4 and OA (trial or Premium – no antivirus). There have been no problems with the Web Shields as they act slightly differently. OA has an automatic whitelist, so no need to update. The blacklist can be downloaded but updated periodically; OA’s software is simple to use and has a newbie or advanced mode as well as a banking mode. Their forum is also as friendly as this one :), and there are many Avast users on the OA site as well. If you know your machine is completely malware-free, when you install OA, you tell it to “trust everything” on your machine so there will be no software conflicts…but you still need to add Avast as a trusted exclusion and vice versa. If you’re not sure you are malware-free, OA can check for you by not checking off “trust everything.” I also run MBAM and a few other malware (on demand tools), so make sure your machine is clean prior to “trusting everything” as well as keeping Avast up to date and scanning and you should be fine.
Are you sure that you are testing your firewalls ports or your routers ports, as I have a router on my system and all shields up is doing is testing my router not my firewall
same here, testing a software firewall with ShieldsUp is bs, it only tests your router (the external IP). You can get rid of your software firewall, as long as you got good settings on your router’s one, you’ll get good results.
I’m running WinXP Media Center 2005 Service Pack 3 (fully updated with Avast 4.8 Home, OA Firewall (free), Win Defender, Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware and SpywareBlaster. I’m behind an Airlink 101 AR430W wireless router. Is the router I’m using enough protection? Or is it advisable to use a software firewall as well. Within my router configuration under Security>Firewall it shows: Block WAn ping - Disabled and SPI Mode - Enabled. It also has a tab for VPN Passthrough the settings in it are as follows:
IPSec passthrough - Enabled
L2TP passthrough - Enabled
PPTP Passthrough - Enabled
What do these settings do?
Are you sure that you are testing your firewalls ports or your routers ports, as I have a router on my system and all shields up is doing is testing my router not my firewall
Well, that’s embarrassing! You’re right. I disabled the software firewall and got exactly the same results from ShieldsUp!
Thanks for alerting me to this.
So I guess I only need the software firewall for stopping unauthorised outbound connections. It’s getting less and less useful…
I don’t know where you get the “It’s getting less and less useful…” from, if it stops just one malicious unauthorised outbound connection it has just saved your ass, so I would say it is very useful.
Any malware that manages to get past your defences will have free reign to connect to the internet to either download more of the same, pass your personal data (sensitive or otherwise, user names, passwords, keylogger retrieved data, etc.) or open a backdoor to your computer, so outbound protection is essential.
So any zero day or hidden infection could get past your AV so the next line of defence is your software firewall. The more layers you have to your defence the less likely it is to be breached.
That’s true DavidR - but I said “less useful” mainly because I had just learned that 50% of the reason for me having a firewall has just gone out the window.
I can see how it’s still valid to have a software layer to prevent unauthorised outbound traffic as long as it’s not intrusive or bloated.