The Windows 7 firewall is very good. Most people do recommend it. The Windows XP one, however, is to be avoided.
There are certain things Windows 7 improved on security wise. So usually when I see people recommend using Windows Firewall, etc, they are talking about Windows 7. This applies to system tools as well (De-fragmentation is one example - Windows 7 great, Windows XP not so great).
Unfortunately, this distinction isn’t always made clear on some review sites.
The one thing the windows 7 firewall has improved, is outbound protection is still disabled by default and it still isn’t very user friendly for your average user, it is rules based and they need to create the rules.
So unless they a) enable the outbound protection and b) are familiar with firewall rules creation, then the win7 firewall isn’t very good.
This is a quote from a technet article about the value of outgoing filtering:
There is a very simple fact about outbound filtering that its proponents fail to take into account. The usual argument from the host-based firewall vendors is that if a system is compromised, whether by a worm or by an interactive malicious user, outbound filtering will stop the worm from infecting other systems or will stop the attacker from communicating out. This is not true.
Well you will excuse me for not believing or taking this all at face value. Why the h*ll would Microsoft go to all the trouble and expense of having added outbound protection to Vista and Win7 firewall when it doesn’t work.
They could have left it just the same as the XP firewall which didn’t have any outbound protection, disabled or otherwise.
This article if anything just shows how much of a pain in the ass rules creation can be and if it doesn’t work why bother.
There is also something wrong on that page as a) I can’t find your quoted text and b) it appears to be incomplete, tails off to an untidy end in mid sentence (firefox 5.0.1). Edit same problem on IE8.
Yes, you have to view the page in compatibility mode of IE to see the whole thing. I didn’t mention that because I didn’t know if it would be a problem in other browsers as well.
I decided to try the free version of Windows 7 Firewall Control and I must say I like it a lot. It provides full two way filtering with none of the annoying HIPS or HIPS like junk of other firewalls. It was just what I was looking for. It’s a little annoying to have to tell it what to do on first access of every program, but after that it works very well and does not seem to have any impact on the system at all.
Also, they told me at the PC Tools forum that the reason why rules were not being created for some apps was because of the way the Web Shield in Avast works. They told me to disable the Shield which I am absolutely not willing to do. I can’t recommend their product for 64 bit systems at all unless they fix the issue in a future update.
Well - I’ve gone with avast! free 6 with Comodo Firewall installed as Firewall Only (so not using Defense+).
Seems to be the best working combination.
Just a note here:
I installed avast! free first. Then – after it was all setup and running (read below) – I first disabled all the shields permanently. Then I turned off the avast! self defence in the settings. This would then let me end the avastui.exe process via task manager. I also went to “Services” and stopped the avastsvc.exe service.
Once this was done I installed Comodo Firewall as Firewall Only then rebooted when asked.
On reboot – I then setup Comodo Firewall (described below).
Only after Comodo Firewall was setup did I re-enable the avast! shields and turn avast! self defence back on.
I have avast! on pretty much default settings (have not changed heuristics at all) except that I have:
For Comodo Firewall installed as Firewall Only:
I think doing this will allow general hassle free operation. Its the setup I plan on going with for my parents, sister and fiancee.
I uninstalled Comodo FW after last July’s failure of some critical Windows Updates. Seems D+ never sets to null anyway. Then, it’s a suite, it installs evrything skeleton. I prefer ZA FREE FW without toolbar. 8)
It’s not quite that easy to install the Firewall only without D+. You are given three options when installing it called something like ,maximum protection, normal protection, and enterprise strength firewall only. Only the last one, enterprise strength, will give you the firewall without D+. However, even using the firewall only installer, all of the other components of the Comodo Internet Security suite do get installed as well, they’re just turned off. Even the AV, with a rather large database file, gets installed.
I’m really liking the free version of Windows 7 Firewall Control. You get a popup, choose to block or allow incoming,outgoing,or all, and that’s it. You can also set it to allow everything while ,say, installing something, and then go back afterwards and edit the rules that were made to your preference.
Simply because there were too many criticisms because it wasn’t available. It’s need is still in debate. It does work but is easily circumvented by malware. That’s the point.
Because something can be circumvented is hardly a reason not to bother installing a 3rd party firewall or using outbound, after all AV and other security applications can be circumvented, should you bother with them or should they give up too
Use ZoneAlarm Free Firewall !!1 
Comodo works well for myself and several friends running both XP and Win2000 ;D
Windows 2000 needs version 2.4.18.184 which can be found here
http://www.filehippo.com/download_comodo/tech/2252/
Actually - it is very easy.
Don’t download Comodo Internet Security. Just download Comodo Firewall.
You can do so by simply reading the options on the Comodo website or following this link:
http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall.php
This doesn’t come with any of the AV components at all. It only comes with Comodo Firewall and Defence +.
Yes - even when you choose the Firewall Only option Defence+ is installed - however it is automatically disabled so you don’t have to worry about it configuring that side of it. Plus it doesn’t get in the way when you are doing all that initial work in configuring the firewall.
http://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall.php
It says “controls which files runs on your pc”. So in the event it’s a new critical Windows Update file, it will deny access. That’s simply that. That’s simply why I prefer the ZA free solution. ;D
Not true at all. Microsoft/Windows Update works fine. No issues at all.
I had an issue in July. I had to completely remove the “crap” Comodo FW to complete my critical ÙWindows Update then. I won’t say it’s no good:it’s even better than Microsoft. At this point, it’s annoyance. :
No, you’re wrong. Even if you choose the firewall only installer from the website the process is exactly as I described and everything does get installed, including the AV. I have done it more than once so I know. The installer download is exactly the same size for the firewall only or the full suite. All Comodo downloads include the full package. The installation options during setup are the only things different but everything does wind up residing on your hard drive.
The ZA firewall is very bloated and very heavy on the system. Comodo is not noticeable at all.
There are other firewall programs …
Ashampoo Firewall Free, Sygate Free, Private Firewall …
Comodo did not give very good results …
I recommend ZoneAlarm Free …
We have seen many problems with Ashampoo firewall and avast (inability to update avast) in these forums, I would avoid this firewall.
Untrue, especially if you install it by checking custom install without the toolbar. ZA free is the best option for AVAST 6 FREE.
On the contrary, Comodo FW is heavy on system and takes command not letting you decide (telling you, my only way out last month, was to uninstall it to install my Windows Updates!!! :o)even though it has pop-ups and so on, you know it’s complicated etc…
Tried to uninstall Outpost FW I had before ZA, had to download the clean.exe file to get rid of it in safe mode. Now my pc boots in less than 30-40 seconds with ZA free.