Hi!
Just want to ask for an advise.I’m currently using the windows firewall.,but as we all now it doesn’t protect outbound traffic.Zone alarm is extremely heavy for my computer(just 750MHz,256 ram.Segate firewall pro was much lighter but it was getting older(and was a bit heavy too).That’s why I switched to windows firewall again.And no problems with it at all.I am very happy with it,but will gladly consider to change it with something better if it’s not heavy and provides good protection.It should be easy to setup too.
Can you please give me a clue?Is there such firewall
Thank you
I assume you mean Sygate Pro firewall and not Seagate that make hard disks but ii don’t think they make firewalls.
There are others, Comodo, Jetico, Sunbelt Kerio, etc.
See some firewall tests for comparison, some are freeware but many are paid for versions http://www.firewallleaktester.com/tests.php.
Check out the tests and see how they do there is no point in getting a light firewall if it doesn’t provide adequate protection. Life is a compromise on protection and I suppose footprint/resource use. There are some firewalls that are utilised for gaming, etc. so should be light on resources, try a google search.
Then Jetico is probably not the one you want. Its a very good firewall but not as easy as the others David mentioned.
M
Edit: Wulf recommended Filseclab Personal Firewall Professional in another thread as being very light on resources. I haven’t tried it - if you do post again with your opinion.
On slower machines it is better to just use the XP Firewall. Make sure to install all the Windows Updates especially SP2 and just check the exceptions. The average person doesn’t really need outbound protection and is better off making sure they have an update AV installed like Avast and realtime AntiSpyware protection like Windows Defender.
Windows firewall is fine until the computer is infected by a Trojan, in which event the Trojan will be able to connect out, and may be able to bring down the firewall completely, allowing more malware to connect in. Some Trojans can bore a hole in Windows firewall, meaning that even when the Trojan is removed from the computer, a hacker is left with a way into the computer.
A knowledgeable user can of course avoid getting Trojans on their system- by not opening email attachments, not downloading from crack sites or peer-to-peer networks, keeping browser and OS up to date etc. It is perhaps the average user who needs to use a third party firewall- the sort of person we see on the forum who manages to get infected with a Trojan.
With a little knowledge, a Firewall which controls outbound traffic can be a good idea. Certainly Windows firewall is too easy to bring down completely should a Trojan find its way onto a system.
With an updated AV, you will not get a Trojan to begin with. I can always tell the people who actuall deal with end users in real life. The Windows XP Firewall is more than adequate for the average user. Third party firewalls require too much user interaction for most people and either one of two things happen, something legimate stops working because of it or people set the thrid party firewall to let everything connect without warning and it becomes irrelevant.
With an updated AV, you will not get a Trojan to begin with.
We see plenty of people here who get Trojans. There are plenty of Trojans that avast! does not detect. I’m sure other AV’s miss Trojans too. The risk of getting a Trojan of course depends on the type of activity undertaken. If users want to download executables from risky sources, I can’t make such a bold statement with any confidence.
I can always tell the people who actually deal with end users in real life.
Yes, it’s true of course. We deal with real users who have such problems almost everyday on the forum.
Outbound protection is not a solution to Trojan Infection. And no you don’t deal with real users in real life, you deal with people posting to a forum, which is why you don’t realize you keep giving bad advice.
The average user is much better off with the simple XP Firewall. There is just less to worry about. Any Trojan written well enough could bypass any firewall once it has system access. Zone Alarm for instance goes by application name. A trojan could easily call itself something like WindowsUpdates.exe and 99 out of 100 average users will let it access the Internet.
Especially on older systems the average user has no need for all the excess overhead from a 3rd party firewall when they really just need a basic Firewall such as the Windows XP one.
What moron would suggest windows defender on a system with limited resources.
Neron might have to get used to lots of idle time waiting for bills latest bungle to finish running him around.
for a moment there i thought you actually helped someone .
-Enhanced performance through a new scanning engine.
-Streamlined, simplified user interface and alerts.
-Improved control over programs on your computer using enhanced Software Explorer.
-Multiple language support with globalization and localization features.
-Protection technologies for all users, whether or not they have administrator rights on the computer.
-Support for assistive technology for individuals who have physical or cognitive difficulties, impairments, and disabilities.
-Support for Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
-Automatic cleaning according to your settings during regularly scheduled scans.
I don’t know what Defender is like but MS Anti-Spyware used to consume a lot of resources when I was trying it out. (About two or three time more than my firewall.)
I think your MS plug is a bit off-topic as Neron asked for info about firewalls.
There is no such thing as an average user. All users are different and most can make up their own minds given good information.
sounds like bill wrote it himself
Thank god for independent opinions
At the moment, Windows Defender is still quite buggy. While the program still performs correctly and properly identifies / removes spyware, I would recommend not downloading and installing Windows Defender if the user doesn’t want to deal with any of the known issues. Some common bugs which have been identified so far are as follows: (Keep in mind that these are only some of the issues I know of, and it is highly possible that some or all of these issues could be fixed by the time you read this.)
* The Windows Defender installer doesn't, in some cases, work with Windows which is running in a different language - other than English.
* Windows Update stumbles on installing the updated definitions by claiming to successfully have installed the updates, and then continuing afterward to pester the user about updates which are available for installation. This is a bit of a nuisance and a hard issue to put up with, in my opinion.
* The removal of some detected spyware-related P2P programs within Windows Defender may also result in the removal of the default folder for storing downloaded files. This essentially means that the user will need to back up his/her files which were downloaded from a P2P application before using Defender to abolish the existence of such P2P apps, or else the user risks loosing their downloaded files also.
Note that the list of other known issues with Windows Defender goes on, but those are a few of the major ones which I felt were the most appropriate to include in this article to assure future Windows Defender users understand the issues and bugs associated with the application. So don’t be alarmed if Windows Defender doesn’t update properly or doesn’t run on your computer if it’s default language isn’t English.
The recommended minimum system requirements are as follows:
* Intel Pentium III Processor or higher (or AMD equivalent)
* Windows 2000 SP4 or Windows XP SP2 or Windows 2003 Server SP1
* 128 Megabytes of RAM (Random Access Memory)
* 20 Megabytes of free, available hard drive space
Windows Defender even in Beta is perfectly safe to use. The issues mentioned are minor and do not cause performance issues with your system as has been claimed twice so far but not proven (as usual).
Windows Defender is an excellent AntiSpyware program that does some of the most important things the others do not. Or at least the free versions of other do not.
It autoupdates using Windows Update
It can schedule a scan
Updates are also very frequent which has forced Ad-aware to release more timely updates.
I am not plugging anything but recommending the best solutions.
Oh don’t take my advice on performance, I would prefer to take yours or Cloussaus with Zero data to back any claim up. :
2 more observations:
If a product is made by, supported by an/or approved by Microsoft,
Mastertech usually recommends it.
FreewheelinFrank usually finds fault with it.
Pretty much down party lines only this isn’t politics…
In my personal experience, I’ve used Windows Defender since it was released.
It’s continuously been improved and hasn’t affected my systems performance.
It hasn’t found anything on my system but then neither have any of the other scanners that I use.
