[Security-Ops] recommends Outpost Firewall

Yesterday i cought Outpost firewall (version 2.x Pro is payable) and took it on test.

ShieldsUp! Port Tests: Passed
LeakTest (Trojan Test): Passed
Application control: YES
Memory usage on WinXP: 5MB
Freeware: YES
Homepage: http://www.agnitum.com/
Download: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/outpost.html

Extras:

  • Easy to learn and simple interface
  • Open arhitecture for plugins
  • Excellent Ads blocking (Banners and other content)
  • DNS Cache
  • Content control
  • Active content filter (Cookies,ActiveX,Referrer,Flash…)
  • Mail attachement filter and reporting

This firewall takes the lead ower all free and even over some payable firewalls in all fields.
Because its free and it has functions that even payable firewalls are missing (especially good Ads blocking and Active contents filter (Cookies,referrer,ActiveX,Flash…),memory usage is very low and interface is simple as it can be.

PS: Sasha i think you’ll like this one :),i already switched from Sygate to this one hehe

RejZoR
[Security-Ops]

Very thanks RejZoR… I’ll give it a try. Seems very good and with more features than other freeware ones.

I see in your picture that we can ‘write’ our own plugins for it…
Have you any suggestion? ;D

In some very rare conditions this firewall fails one test at grc.com (ShieldsUp!).
It shows some ports as Closed instead Stealth. Check it and give me some info on this.

This is bad, really bad. Never I receive this message for ZA free :-
I interrupt the download waiting for your posts (please, be specific about the conditions of the test).

No,install it and test. I’m playing with many programs every day (5 firewalls in 2 days) so its probably a problem related to last firewall that was installed. At first when i tested it it got PASS on all tests multiple times.

Thanks RejZoR. Do you know if it is posible (I know it’s not recommended) to install Outpost like a second ative firewall?

For instance, we can install ZA and Sygate at the same time in the same computer. No problems. I tested (although it’s not recommended, I know).

Just because I don’t want to uninstall ZA to use Outpost right now… Maybe in the future with another computer. :wink:

Just Disable ZoneAlarm (TrueVector service) and disable startup command and it will be like there is no firewall anymore :wink: Very simple. Usually there is no problems with registry entries and files.

Second problem i encountered was Referrer removing which is hm incompatible with this forum >:(
If you disable referring you’ll get some error when trying to Post a new Post. It works fine everywhere else.

Oh no! With our beloved forum? :stuck_out_tongue:
If I do not disable the ‘referring’ what will I loose in terms of protection?
Do you know how ZA works in this particular thing as it does not have this feature? 8)

Well referrer sometimes contain URL address from confirmation forms and on next page you visit,you’ll see that URL with possible personal informations contained inside that URL. ZoneAlarm has this enabled by default and it cannot be disabled as far as i know,especially not in Free edition.
I’ll nag about this issue to Agnitum (developers of Outpost Firewall). I think the whole problem is because it replaces referred URL with string: Referrer removed by Outpost Firewall (http://www.agnitum.com).
Since it embendes URL address instead original URL,browser probably reads that as you came from www.agnitum.com not from forum.avast.com and you get error,because you cannot write post elsewhere and than post it here only with button.

I haven’t tested this in IE,but Opera has this problem. Try it with your MyIE2 and report if you have any problems with that browser.

I also retested firewall again and it passed all tests.
That fail was a technical problem,because now i perfectly cleaned all firewalls from disk and registry. Memory usage is at 3,8 MB !!! total. I can also replace trey icon if you don’t like that blue question character. I replaced it with that fortress tower and it looks much better :wink:

HERE I Goooooooooooooooooo !!!

I was on Outpost before, and it looks like I’m comming back home again… hehe ;D

We’ll see, we’ll see…

Thanks RejZor, what would we do without your wonderful information ? :wink:

Cheers !

Ok this post will be test for Opera referrer removing directly from Opera…

EDIT:
Woooho it seems to work!!!
For all Opera users that want to use Outpost Firewall with removed referrer:

Go to (in Opera browser):
File\Preferences…\Privacy
and UNCHECK Enable referrer logging

Now this forum is working normally and referring URL is 100% removed.
Guess Mozilla has this option too,if it doesn’t ask at Mozilla forums. Guys at Opera responed as fast as here (ok maybe a bit slower :wink: )

Is free version 1.0 as good as 2.1 ? I know, there are no certain things in free edition (like always), but anyway I don’t need those things… I would give a try to free version first…

Featues Outpost Pro 2.1 Outpost Free 1.0


Packet/Application filtering Yes Yes
Network monitoring Yes Yes
Web privacy Yes Yes
Components Control (Anti-Leak) Yes No
Auto-configuration of apps/network Yes No
History of connections/events Yes No
Stateful Inspection technology Yes No
ICS Support Yes No
Automatic Online Updates Yes No
Support Service Yes No
Price $39.95 freeware

Yeah the only very useful function that is in Pro version is Anti-Leak where other app hijacks other application,but this is a very rare thing and in most cases avast! takes care for such apps.
Other things are fully featured. I also got rid of WebWasher web filter since this firewall has fast integrated one which does its job very well on removing add banners.

Yes, OK my friend… but, how come Free version still is under 1.0 ?

I had Outpost Firewall Free edition 1.0 installed few (3-4) months ago, I’m not 100% sure… Is there anything new in this one since then ?

Do you maybe have information on what’s the mem usage on XP for Free version ?

Cheers !

P.S. Skin is completely finished, tested million times (8 hours) and it’s called “Lite-On by SZCraftec”. Take a look in here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=3276;start=32#bot

Btw, I have one more surprise for you guys in my little skin shop… but not this time… little patience and you’ll love me… ;D

I tested both firewalls (2.1 Pro and 1.0 Free) and there are only minor changes in functions and a huge difference in memory usage. 1.0 Free uses around 3-5MB of RAM,2.1 PRO uses around 15-20MB of RAM. This is a huge drawback in my opinion. Sure you get nicer icons and interface with more colorful background,but functionality counts not the huge memory usage.

You can change all icons with some resource hacker like Microangelo Explorer so you can change them as you like and with those you like :slight_smile:

OK, I uninstalled Sygate, cleaned out all registry keys regarding Sygate and I installed Outpost Free 1.0 version.

Can you help me with this one ?

You wrote:

I can also replace trey icon if you don't like that blue question character. I replaced it with that fortress tower and it looks much better

How can I change that ugly system tray icon and replace it with the one You mentioned ?

Thanks RejZor in advance !

Also go to my Security-Ops page and select ShieldsUp! firewall test and LeakTest to ensure proper firewall operation. All PASS results mean that firewall is working properly :slight_smile:

This is what I’ve got when I tested COMMON PORTS:


GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2004-03-14 at 23:28:39

Results from scan of ports: 0, 21-23, 25, 79, 80, 110, 113,
119, 135, 139, 143, 389, 443, 445,
1002, 1024-1030, 1720, 5000

0 Ports Open
1 Ports Closed

25 Ports Stealth

26 Ports Tested

NO PORTS were found to be OPEN.

The port found to be CLOSED was: 113

Other than what is listed above, all ports are STEALTH.

TruStealth: FAILED - NOT all tested ports were STEALTH,
- NO unsolicited packets were received,
- A PING REPLY (ICMP Echo) WAS RECEIVED.


Hm read this:
http://grc.com/port_113.htm

Uninstall all firewalls and use RegSeeker or JV16 PowerTools and search for firewall name entries with Registry Finder and delete them (for all firewalls you used). Restart machine and install Outpost again. Now test it.

To delete registry enries use like this example:
For ZoneAlarm:
zonelabs
zonealarm

You think it has to do something with my GVC Gnet IP0010 Hardware Firewall ?

Edit: I don’t believe it… RegSeeker is freeware. It does very good job and it’s free. Great!

It has found 2 registry keys for ZoneAlarm, 6 keys for Sygate, more than 30 registry keys for Norton Firewall and Norton Antivirus (I hate those days ::slight_smile: ) and I was sure I wiped out everything… ehm… this is really great program, I wish I found it earlier…