Outpost Firewall Free

Hello!

I would like to ask you for a little help please. For example: if I somehow get some kind of malware on my PC, is it possible that this malware could be sending out information from my HDD to someone? Is malware able to send whole DOC, JPG, TXT etc. files out? Or what does it send? In short - do I really need a new firewall?

I’ve never in my life used a different firewall than the XP’s integrated one. But if you’ll answer my questions above with YES, then I’ll be thinking about geting a free firewall and from what I’ve read lately on this forum, Outpost’s Free Firewall seems to be a good one which is also “friendly” with the Avast! Free antivirus.

Can you please tell me how much CPU and RAM Outpost Firewall Free takes when it runs in Windows XP (you can read my system configuration in my signature)? Will it at all slow down my PC? Will it work “friendly” with Sandboxie also? Is it the kind of firewall which is popping messages out all the time or is it more a “set-and-forget” thing? What about the updates, how often gets Outpost Firewall Free updated? Do I have to set the XP firewall to OFF before I install the new one? Anything else I have to know before I install and use it? Any known errors/bugs?

Thank you a lot in advance!

PS: One more thing - is it naggy (since it’s free)?

Your question, and the short answer to it ( Yes ), are the single best reason to get a 2way firewall. That is, to stop any phoning home that you do not want/is not needed.

The Outpost Firewall Free is relatively light on resources, not very intrusive e.g. friendly. Firewalls in general don’t have frequent updates they aren’t like antivirus programs, constantly updating virus signatures, etc.

As and when it does get configuration updates, etc. they shouldn’t be large. I have the pro version and even when on dial-up it didn’t have much of an impact for me.

@ Gargamel360: What exaclty do you mean with phoning home? So malware can send whole DOC, JPG,… files somewhere? Thank you!

@ DavidR: Can you be more specific about the system resources? Will it slow down my system? Thank you!

And some more questions about Outpost Firewall Free:

I found a lot of “presets” at the Outpost Firewall forum. Is the firewall hard to SET? It’s easy to set the XP firewall, but I don’t know how will I set this one, I don’t know much about ports etc.

I found out about version 6 not being supported anymore after October 1st, but the FREE version is still 6, not 7, right? So what does that mean? Will the FREE version still be supported/updated?

Your comments on this: Outpost VS Commodo VS Online Armour (with Avast! as a AV solution)?

Is there any other good and light firewall which also works fine with Avast!'s Free AV and has NO NAG SCREENS or any other kind of nagging (like Avast! Free for example)?

THANK YOU FOR HELP! :slight_smile:

I can’t be more specific as I don’t use the free version but from others on the forums it is relatively light. I use the pro versions (has more functionality) and my system is of a higher spec, so there would be no comparison.
The outpost forums are more technical than your average user needs, for the most part the default settings should be fine.

Dialing home is evil. Sure it can send, like a keylogger, for example.
It can also, last I checked, call home and order up more nasties for you.
A 2way firewall can stop this (ideally).

Some say they are not needed…most of those people are gamers, 2ways can be pesky things for games.

Hello again!

I’ve done a little searching and found out those three (I’ve read that these are very light on system resources). What do you think about them?

  • Privatefirewall 7.0.21.1 (Pirvacyware’s free firewall)

  • Kerio 2.1.5 (abandoned Kerio’s free firewall)

  • Sunbelt Personal Firewall 4.6.1861 (becomes a free crippled version after 30 days)

Are they light, do their job, not annoying/nagging, user friendly and cooperate nice with Avast! and Sandbocie?

Thank you! :slight_smile:


Edit: I forgot - what about ZoneAlarm Free Firewall? Is it very light on resources? It seems an easy-to-use firewall…

Hi…

I’m not sure about the others but Kerio 2.1.5 is a fairly old program and I’m not sure how well it does on any of the tests at this point in time. I’ve used it once in the past (for a client’s system,) and had mixed results with it, although, because of the problems with the system, I have reason to doubt it had anything to do with the firewall. Here is a page on Wilders that might be of some help should you choose this version of Kerio. :slight_smile:

Looking at your system specs and considering the fact that 2.1.5 was released sometime in 2001-2003, it should be pretty light and snappy indeed. :wink: I have no idea as to compatibility with your other programs, however.

Regards…

I think there are a few forum members using Privatefirewall one is Bob3160 I believe.

Privatefirewall memory usage on my xp = PFGUI.exe 29,312k and pfsvc.exe 5,124k. It doesn’t seem heavy.

PFW does have a hips component and by design a hips can be rather chatty.Pfw has a learning mode and also you can set programs as a “trusted publisher” which will suppress popups. This firewall gets along well with avast and sandboxie in my usage of it. hope this helps. :slight_smile:

Thank you all for your help!

Hm, 35.000k is quite heavy for me. That’s about as much as Avast! is using here on my PC. I wonder how much memory Kerio 2.1.5 firewall takes… 'Cause all I want is a firewall, I don’t need HIPS or anything else, I have everything else (it’s in my signature). :slight_smile:


For what it’s worth I use Private Firewall with Avast free and my system has never ran better. XP Pro Sp3. Also liked Outpost free as well. Regarding Zone Alarm this is from their forum http://forums.zonealarm.com/showthread.php?t=75332

Yeah, I don’t like moves like that (ZA). Do you remember which one is more resource heavy, Privatefirewall or Outpost Firewall? Do you think that Kerio 2.1.5 is much less of a “memory eater”? And thank you! :slight_smile:

The last time I used kerio seems it was around 5-6 mb. Very low.
BTW the hips can be turned off in privatefirewall. hope this helps

Here is some more information regarding PFW from Wilders bellgamin re ram usage post #7 also see posts #3 and #63 http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=279923
This one by Stem #28 is also noteworthy http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=275703&page=2
Outpost free was very light as well when I last used it.

I’m using the Outpost Pro firewall and that doesn’t use 35MB of RAM (18,392KB of VM Memory, more accurate reading of memory in use) on my system and I would have thought the Outpost free firewall would use less, given it has less functionality.

My concern over Kerio a) it is no longer supported and b) is rules based which to a point you have to create the rules if you really want to tighten down security.

Thank you all for your comments, I REALLY appreciate your help, but I’m quite confused about what to install… I’ll open another thread about my security setup so that you’ll see why I need a really light FW. Again, thank you all! :slight_smile:

Hi, just wanted to add that my previous post stating the memory usage of pfw is at 5+ days usage(no reboot)
VM= PFGUI.exe 18,828 pfsvs.exe 2,588

Sorry to keep taking this off topic

No problem! Now I’m deciding about Kerio 2.1.5, Outpost Firewall, Personalfirewall and I’ve found another one: SoftPerfect Personal Firewall - do you know anything about it?

In the reviews I read Comodo is praised as the best FW and Zone Alarm is second or or so… But those who are quite resource hungry, I guess?

I’ve been using OA with Avast Free for quite some time and have had no problems with any of the versions. I have 3 machines with XP and Vista, and have run anything from the public versions to beta versions on them with no problems or nag screens. The newer versions of OA are more stable now than in the past and I use all shields for both software.