I just established a very powerful firewall system.
Its especially interesting for all those that think that Windows firewall is unsecure because it lacks outbound protection and are searching for low overhead firewall.
Here is the solution
Outpost 1.0 + Windows Firewall (i use SP2 ICF)
Outpost has certain problems with Stealthing ports but provides program control and outbound protection,Windows Firewall provides great inbound protection and incredible port Stealthing capability.
When using these two together you get incredible dual layer protection with minimal possible overhead.
Also there is no communications problems,because eMule runs with High Id (communications are not limited in any way),also all other programs run without problems.
I know,i was just to lazy to write full name. But we all know what ICF means
I’d use Kerio instead,but its far from being so light on resources as Outpost is and its lame with application rules,because it asks for each and every different IP/Port even if the same application (already Allowed) tries to connect.
Is outbound really that important though? I mean, if you run frequent trojan scanners, anti virus, etc. and have something blocking inbound (WinFirewall) I think you should be ok.
Unless you can 100% guarantee your system will not catch a new trojan infection, then it is prudent to have outbound protection.
After all do you want to take the risk of your username/password, account details, etc. in the hands of some fraudsters/criminals organisation, don’t wory about outbound protection.
@lee16
After some tests i found out that Windows Firewall has the best inbound protection of all firewalls. Especially in field of Stealthing ports where Kerio fails. Outpost Firewall 1.0 has some problems with inbound,but it has a good outbound protection and provides max info possible for all connections that go through machine.
I can track where did some program connected,through which port/protocol,i can track all FTP/HTTP/HTTPS URLs,track sent/recived data for each program.
These two firewalls certanly work together,because all ports are Stelthed at all times,programs always ask for outbound and it can also detect changes in program. There was also no conflicts with any program that i use,so i can say its works perfectly.
These are Instant Messagers and not P2P software (altough they do connect in the P2P way,but this is not the issue).
P2P software uses hundreds of connections which kills the ZA as they kill cheap hardware routers/firewalls.
I was talking about eMule. ZA rejects amjority of connections and gathers huge garbage leak in its modules. Sometimes even simply dies and terminates/blocks all traffic. Its a very good firewall for normal web usage,but for any kind of P2P,it simply sucks. Even if you get High ID connection you get 2x less sources then with other firewalls.
