Good firewall to work with Windows Vista?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Preferably a free firewall that work good with the Windows Vista.

2

I think Comodo is compatible or they are due to be soon.

A google search returns many his, perhaps something else there, http://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=freeware+firewall+vista+compatible

3

:slight_smile: Hi ewatt :

 More specific recommendations MAY be made IF you specify IF your
 Vista is "32-bit" or "64-bit" !?
4

Yes, soon will Comodo Firewall Pro be Vista compatible.

16th of april is the first beta of v3.0 sheduled to be released

http://forums.comodo.com/index.php/topic,6882.0.html

5

Windows firewall.
It’s not easy to configure - but should definitely keep you safe.

Run wf.msc to see its main GUI.

Cheers
Vlk

6

Have you got any tips on configuring it for the avast processes that require internet access, ashMaiSv.exe, ashWebSv.exe and avast.setup ?

Not being a Vista user and unlikely to be for some considerable time, but I’m sure this issue is likely to crop up in the forums at some point.

7

While providing complete inbound AND outbound protection, by default, the Vista firewall does not contain any rules for controlling of outbound traffic. That is, every program is allowed to go out.

If you decide to define your own rules, make sure to enable

  • avast.setup access on port 80 (http)
  • ashWebSv.exe access on port 80 (http)
  • ashMaiSv.exe access on ports 25 (smtp), 110 (pop3), 143 (imap4)

Cheers
Vlk

8

Thanks, Vlk,

I’m sure this will be useful, add to the ashMaiSv.exe port 119 (nntp) if they use a news server.

I think many are going to be caught out by no outbound control unless they set them up themselves, so for many this is no better than the old XP firewall with no outbound protection at all.

9

Hi ewatt74

More discussion that may be of interest is at: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=26916.0

10

VLK, When adding the rules for Windows Firewall, where does one find the avast.setup file? I cant locate it in the main Avast! directory. I dont want to open the ports generically, just for the given application…?

  • Never mind, found it in another post- for those interested it’s found in (C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\avast.setup) but it’s a temporary file only created during the update process, hence why I couldn’t see it. Just add the path anyway.
11

As you’ve discovered, this is a temporary file created to update avast.
It runs from the \Setup folder.

It connects the port 80 only, as far I know…