Hi,
I am thinking of installing a software firewall in tandem with Avast.
What firewalls would you recommend that would work well with Avast?
I’m on WinXP SP3.
Thanks.
Welcome quakeworld
It depends on your operating system being 32-bit or 64-bit.
Don’t use Comodo:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=46737.0
PC Tools Firewall Plus
http://www.pctools.com/firewall
Outpost Firewall Pro
http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost
Search with terms like “best firewall” and you will find recent discussions like http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=51878.0 that try to help users with the same problem. Depends a bit on what you need from a firewall, but there are a number that are very popular, free, and work well with Avast!-even Avast! 5. 
I use Online Armor with Avast! on two computers and am quite happy with it.
I like and still use Sygate 5.6, the last free version of their firewall before Symantec bought them. I’m also behind a router so I basically use Sygate to tell me if something is trying to get out. I have tried Comodo firewall, I didn’t like it, it didn’t have the amount of options and logging that Sygate has. By options I don’t mean spyware scanning and stuff like that which I don’t need my firewall doing. Sygate is also very light on resources. I don’t think it works with Vista and Windows 7 from what I recall, but I still use XP on my main system and Vista and Windows 7 RC in VMs.
I use Online Armor Free. Very light on the PCs resources. And one thing that I really like about Online Armor, it has a new version every now and then (in my experience, almost every 3-4 weeks). Meaning it has updates for the firewall. Works with Vista (32) and Windows 7 (32). In the set up though, you need to allow the components of Avast, and for the Firewall to TRUST Avast. It would be smooth sailing after that. Well… At least in my case.
One good reason why not to use Comodo: It made my PC freeze after Avast updated itself. And take note, Avast is in Comodo’s Trusted Programs. I ditched it after that. Uses a lot of memory and CPU power also.
Mikos
BTW, the new Avast! firewall that is part of the Avast! internet suite has some very nice features that should appeal to many users, and should be out of beta shortly. Unfortunately not free, but does lots of good things to take the burden off of the users.
My vote for Online Armor too have used many times.
Online Armor free
Avast Home Basic free
…fairly unbeatable combination I think.
Another vote to Online Armor and if you can spare some money for the paid version, even better
If you can wait for the new version 5 suite to come out…I would defintly recommend it. Iv tried all the others and the BIGGEST problem is that they all want you to disable the friewall that is more than just part of a firewall for windows. Here is a quote from Vic himself over this:
It will be so DREAMMY to have a product that works seamlessly with what windows wants all the time. I know it was pretty tough Awil team but AVAST ME HEARTIES…YA DRAG’T THE MAINSAIL STRATE INTO THE SUN AND NOW WE BE CLIPP’N TIL NEVERLAND!!! ???
…but really, its worth the wait, your gonna try it anyhow and just reformat because noone uninstalls like Avast either…thanks for making that work right as well!!!
The paid version has a Mail Shield and A Web Shield along with other extras that is not part of the Free Version. However, if I had the Paid Version, I will end up disabling its Mail Shield, and Web Shield as Avast has an Internel Mail & Outlook/Exchange Services, as well as a Web Shield already. So I settled for the Free Version. It is pretty much a Firewall, wihout the fancy frills that some Firewalls are now forced to have which most Anti Viruses already have. Hehehehe…
I would agree with ICR. It is an unbeatable combination. Avast 4.8 Free doesn’t have script protection which Online Armor Free has. So it is very complimentary to the protection that Avast AV provides. At least in my case… It is pretty much an unbeatable combo. Pretty much protects me with my conservative surfing habits.
Too bad, the Avast Suite is not free. As it is, I am just a plain home user and I am already happy with the AV by itself… Together with Online Armor. I am waiting for the release of Avast 5. It definitely has better features as I have read on some reviews (like PC Mag, they didn’t rate it officially since it is still in Beta, not that I care since I am already an Avast fan but it just sort of gives me a glimpse of what it can do).
And speaking of Comodo, I am a silent observer in their Forums… If you can’t say anything nice, better not say anything at all. That should say pretty much what I have seen there.
Mikos
I use Online Armor Free. Very light on the PCs resources. And one thing that I really like about Online Armor, it has a new version every now and then (in my experience, almost every 3-4 weeks). Meaning it has updates for the firewall. Works with Vista (32) and Windows 7 (32). In the set up though, you need to allow the components of Avast, and for the Firewall to TRUST Avast. It would be smooth sailing after that. Well… At least in my case.
Does this mean Online Armor disable windows firewall when you during installing? or is compatible with Windows 7 (32)?
Thanks for your input everyone. Will check out Online Armor as it sounds ok based on your recommendations.
in my very long experience with avast i always found PCTOOLS firewall free very effective and light. OA always gave me trouble
What,s wrong with Comodo(firewall)?
Yes. It will automatically disable the Windows Firewall. However, it will not disable it in the services.msc. It is only the one in the Control Panel that is disabled. I have read about MS call for software vendors not to disable the Windows Firewall. However, they are the very same ones that also stated that one cannot use two firewalls at the same time. I do understand why they would advise not to disable their firewall. The firewall service (for some freaking reason) is needed by other services in Windows. Thus disabling it in the services.msc will cause some problems (as it turned out for my Windows XP a few weeks after I disabled it in services.msc, I since restarted it and just left it disabled in Control Panel). I have also read here that it is ok to disable it in the Control Panel as long as you leave the services running.
I am not sure with Windows 7 since I have not used that OS yet (thanks to freaking Linksys who doesn’t have any drivers for my wireless card driver for Windows 7 while the rest of the world comes up with drivers for that OS).
Mikos
I used Comodo Firewall before with Avast in Vista PC. The PC just freezes whenever Avast would update itself. I didn’t bother with it since the PC seems to chug along fine after that momentary freezing in space thing. However, it also got worse. Every time Avast updates, the PC totally freezes and boom!!! It is unresponsive. Only a forced reboot will fix the problem. I can’t keep on doing that. I will not say that I am using more than two security programs that will run into conflict with each other. I am not a noob either for me not to know what I am doing with my PC. I ditched Comodo and the problem was solved. However, another problem that I had with it, their software is so hard to remove from the PC. I had a very difficult time removing its traces. I don’t like software that does that.
Further, for a free firewall, I find their product to be running into conflict with other programs also. In my XP computer, I ended up reformatting the entire thing after installing Comodo (as it doesn’t work with my K9 Webfiltering) and totally crashed it after the installation. And there was no warning from them before in their installer about this (they now do).
I read some where (I just don’t know where, I am not even sure if it was in this Forum or from another), Comodo is like a Firewall that has hidden AV on it. Although one chooses just the Firewall, the program contains pretty much the AV kernel just waiting to be activated. And for a FW, it does use a lot of resources compared to Firewalls like Online Armor, PC Tools, or Outpost.
Sorry if I have to say this, but this is just a matter of opinion. I tried their Forum. And that is just about it. I just tried it. I need not say more since I don’t have anything nice to say about it. Better leave it there. After all, this is Avast. No room for bad mouthing other Forums here. All I can say is, good thing I didn’t even bother to participate in their Forum and those people who have seen how they discuss things there, will know what I mean.
Mikos
I am the lucky one I got OA pro version for free at gizmos 
I got a free copy of OA for beta testing it, and liked it well enough to buy a copy for my other computer. And now I see they have reduced the price by quite a bit, at least until the end of the year.
Try configuring avast! to be allowed in the Firewall/ Application Control of the software. Or turn off automatically update and set it to “Ask” instead (manual update might require administrator mode) ~
P.S. upgrading avast! probably would help fix the problem ~
Thanks for the suggestion.
I also did that when I had Comodo. During that time I think it was 4.8.1358 was the version that was available. Avast was also in Comodo’s list of Trusted Vendors. And in setting up Comodo, including D+, I gave full rights to the components of Avast. Windows Firewall is also turned off although still running in services.msc. And it still freezes. I might try Comodo in the future (as it is a habit for me to be testing some software) but I will just do that in virtual mode or in my virtual PC. I heard they are coming up with CIS 4.0. It has almost the same features as Avast. But I am sticking with Avast. I have proven its worth already.
Mikos