I’m going to switch my AV program to Avast. I’m running XP SP 3, is the firewall that’s built into Avast better than the xp firewall, or should I consider other options, such as Outpost, PrivateFirewall etc?
Virtually anything is better than the XP firewall as it has zero outbound protection.
However, only the Avast Internet Security suite has a firewall.
How does the firewall in AIS compare to either Outpost or PrivateFirewall?
I can’t say as i have never used it having used Outpost firewall for more years than I can remember, from way back on the Outpost free version 1.0 and bought a lifetime license at outpost firewall pro 3.0 and have bought a lifetime license for may other system.
However, that said the avast Firewall seeks to be much less noisy than many other firewalls (making most of the decisions) as a great many people aren’t very certain on how to answer most obscure firewall questions.
For me Outpost on the Rules Wizard provides a good balance, but many would consider that too noisy, then again I like to know what is going on in my system.