Does Avast offer a firewall…?

First let me say welcome to the forum. To answer your question no avast doesn’t offer a firewall. if your are looking for a firewall I would suggest either zone alarm or sygate personal as they are both free. I hope this helps.

maybe outpost or kerio too

Thanx for your prompt replies…

tangledwebster

kerio and sygate, ultimate set up, lol. . . . my friends brother is a hacker and he says that kerio is one of the hardest to get passed

Well kerio is the one which lets the ports open,so i don’t trust it. ZoneAlarm is the toughest,but consumes lots of resources. Sygate is also a good one.

I like Outpost but I’m not an expert on firewalls!!!

Here is that old nagger Well someone has to do it

1. Freeware firewalls like ZoneAlarm, Kerio, Sygate are not bad, but you get what you paid for.
2. Real hackers don’t tell they are, so your friend ain’t one. (trust me I know)
3. Best firewall is still a hardware firewall. For about 40 you can get a router with build in hardware firewall. That still is the best protection you can get. And lets face it, you buy a computer for about 600, if you buy all software you want to use (not speaking of the freeware ones ofcourse) you will need at least another 600 before you have some decent progs. So what is 40 for a router/firewall and secure your system a lot more?!
4. Don’t forget that viruses, spyware, adware, malware, trojans and such are different things and that there is NO WAY that one single application/security messure can deal with them all.

For a some more information about security you may want to have a look at http://v1ru5help.org/phpBB2/index.php and read the things I posted there about this subject.

TIP1: Don’t protect just the ‘outside’, also have a look at your security from the inside

TIP2: Whatever firewall you choose to use. Close ALL ports and open only those who are really needed, don’t make the mistake to do it the other way around.

Hi RejZor,

again:

Freeware firewalls like ZoneAlarm, Kerio, Sygate are not bad, but you get what you paid for

They provide adequate protection. But have holes.

Real hackers don't tell they are, so your friend ain't one. (trust me I know)

True

Best firewall is still a hardware firewall

You still need a software firewall with it for email protection and application authentication, i like to use a hardware firewall with sygate, it seems good enough.

–lee

Any type of good protection is better than “none” at all. Both software and hardware firewalls have there good points. Protection of your pc is the “name of the game” in todays times. 8)

I’d like to retract my post and say that I’m back to using Zone Alarm. The latest version 5.0.590.043 is working like a charm on my system.
Only one thing I don’t like, it’s not recognizing Avast as an AV program.
Have asked why but havent gotten any answer back. Probably wouln’t either. Have to remember, I’m not dealing with Avast!

Bob,

Be very careful please run SheildsUP to check all the port to pass the test, when I install Zone Alarm Pro. The latest version 5.0.590.043 port 1024 fail the test.

I’ll bet you are having the same problem as Port 1024, if I were you would recommand you go back to version v4.5.590.0.0 before v5.0 came out.

Until Zone Alarm has double checked and fixed, their has been a lot problem with 5.0.590.043 at the Zone Zlarm forum website.

I don’t have any problem once so ever with v4.5.590.0.0.

Thanks SpeedyPC

Be very careful please run SheildsUP to check all the port to pass the test, when I install Zone Alarm Pro. The latest version 5.0.590.043 port 1024 fail the test.

There are basicly programs and websites out there that check the security of your pc/firewall, SheildsUp is one and can be found here http://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2 , (i pass it 100%) go to the bottom of that page and select what you want to check, i.e Common Ports.
Also http://scan.sygate.com/ is another good one to check, but i don’t 100% pass this one.

–lee

Hi Lee
Here are the results from Sygate:
Trying to find out your computer name…
Unable to determine your computer name!

Trying to find out what services you are running…
Unable to detect any running services!

And at ShieldsUp, I also passed. ;D ;D ;D

Hi bob

That is good,
But if you go back to http://scan.sygate.com/ you will notice that down the left side there are other scans aswell as the one you did (quick scan,stealth scan ect), you should see if you pass them aswell.

–lee

Ok Lee
I’ve just finished every test and ZA passed 100% nothing got thru.

Good to hear bob

I almost comleatly pass the sygate check, but there are 2 ports on my computer that are only closed rather then stealthed, but its still pritty good since im not using a hardware firewall at the moment and im only using a free firewall.

EDIT: Also bob i just found another check, and was suprised to find some info about my security i didn’t know about, i don’t think its to important though, its was checking IE faults, i didn’t have any exploits but it said " VBScript is activated!" and “Invocation of secure ActiveX controls is activated.”
see how well you do, http://onlinecheck.emsisoft.com/en/

EDIT2: BTW , one of the tests said to close the firewall while testing (port scan), and when it tested it said port “135: open!” while the firewall was closed, is this a big probel if my firewall is normaly on.

–lee

Hi lee
You should be fine cause the firewall is active and as long as it is, that port would not be available without your knowledge.
I took the other test and it’s also fine. I bypassed the test where I’m supposed to turn off my fire wall.
I refused to turn it off no matter what the reason. I don’t know emsisoft.com from Adam. ;D