What is the best firewall to use with Avast..Comodo is causing too many problems

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I have searched these forums and many post recommend Comodo, but I
am having too many problems with it. I hope someone can recommend
something better. Thanks in advance.

2

Hi…

Although it is not well thought of because it lacks outbound protection (although with Windows Vista, by default, it is available,) I happily use Windows firewall. However, if you desire outbound protection here are some options…

  1. If you are using Windows Vista, you can configure the Windows firewall for outbound protection with a little work. Please see here for
    details on how to do this…

    http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid192_gci1247138,00.html

    http://www.vistax64.com/vista-networking-sharing/56740-configure-windows-firewall.html

    (The first link will require membership.)

  2. If you want a 3rd party firewall, here is a site that offers recommendations…

    http://www.iopus.com/guides/free-firewall.htm

    There are quite a few sites like this one, just Google around. :slight_smile: Everyone has their own opinion on which is best, so my advice is to
    choose a quality firewall that works best for you. I’ve had good experiences overall with Kerio 4.2, before Sunbelt purchased it,
    however, it is no longer supported and I’m not sure if its effectiveness is compromised because of it.

Hope this is helpful. :slight_smile:

May God Bless you!

3

Here’s another site to check for firewalls (and other free stuff).
Seems unbiased and up to date.
http://downloads.andymanchesta.com/firewall.html

4

Myself would not recommend Comodo for the simple reason that it is very technical and depends a lot on users knowledge of malware and intrusion although it has a very nice feature such as HIPS.
PCTOOLS free firewall also has a simplified feature which would be enough for an average user and it is light and user friendly.
Rising Firewall Free is also very nice will some good features
ONLINEARMOR FREE is another good firewall and i have tried it but i think it might have some problems with Avast especially the PRO with the web guard on.

5

I switched to paid Online Armor over free Comodo for Vista because of long term neglect of firewall problems to pursue their suite, and other issues. Plus OA has some very nice features for wifi users and is very easy to maintain effectively. Free version is also very good if you don’t need the missing features. Also have used Avast! (mostly with XP) with Zone Alarm, Kerio 2.1.5 and 4.x/Sunbelt, Jetico, Sygate, NetVeda, and probably some others I have forgotten, (even McAfee and Norton briefly) and have not found Avast! a problem with any of them. Sites like http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php give one view of current firewalls, but mostly relate to the HIPS function-the firewalls themselves I have tried have pretty much all been OK, sometimes with a few quirks, some more difficult to maintain then others, but mostly good protection for what they do. But HIPS is important to supplement AVs because of the rapidly changing virus environment.

6

I use the Sunbelt personal firewall and it works great, no conflicts with Avast free version on Windows xp pro SP3.
I have had it for a year.
http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Home-Home-Office/Sunbelt-Personal-Firewall/

7

When I decided to leave comodo in the recycle bin I chose the #1 Free firewall 0n the market

http://www.tallemu.com/

8

I considered On Line Armor Free but after viewing their free/paid comparo
http://www.tallemu.com/free-firewall-protection-software.html
I decided too much stuff was left off.

Looking at all the other free ones, I ended up choosing PC Tools’ Firewall Plus; 100% free and has ALL the bells and whistles any power user could want and a mode for noobs, too.
It scored really well in the latest showdown, too:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php
Where Online Armor Free didn’t do as well as paid. Hmmmmm. :-
And Sunbelt? So sad…

9

If only inbound wanted I’d also go with Windows firewall. If you are on Vista then instead of the advanced security settings for outbound control you may want to add Vista Firewall Control (free) which uses the API for the firewall to enable outbound control by application. Much easier to use than individual outbound firewall rules in Vista.
http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/index.html

10

I use Online Armor’s firewall with Avast on two PC’s. One has the paid version of OA. The other has the free one. With the paid version, you get a keylogger detection and secure browsing. Secure browsing is supposed to work with trusted bank sites, but if your bank isn’t whitelisted in tallemu’s database, it’s a problematic feature. I would say the OA firewall is similar to Comodo in function, except I’ve never encountered any bugs whereas Comodo crashed my Vista PC twice.

11

I am also looking for a free firewall replacement.
I was using the paid version of Sunbelt personal firewall but free versions of others offer the same protection.
Looking for input as to free Online Armor or free Comodo keeping free Avast Home on a windows xp machine.

12

sygate firewall http://filehippo.com/download_sygate_personal_firewall/

ashampo firewall http://www2.ashampoo.com/webcache/html/1/product_2_0050___EUR.htm

13

Windows firewall.
PC Tools.
Online Armour.
Zone Alarm.

14

I use Comodo Firewall Pro, version 3.8.65951.477, with Avast antivirus without any problems at all.

For those interested in the security of firewalls have a look at http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php where you will see some very interesting charts.

Comodo comes out top of the FREE firewalls and third overall.

roger.p

15

tried Comodo free some time ago: terrible experience. I’m using now Online Armor free with no problems at all, everything works great. I sure do recommend OA free.

16

I just switched to the Free Online Armor, no problem with Avast.

17

I’ve got a Windows Me box and a Windows XP Pro box and both have Sygate (pre-Symantec) version and it’s plays nice with Avast!, SAS, MBAM and SpywareBlaster… It’s available at Filehippo…and it’s free. :slight_smile:

18

If you decide to try Sygate, be sure you understand what the “Sygate proxy hole” is and have plans to deal with it. Avast! is one of the local proxies that is affected by the problem, and Sygate never fixed it. You can find out more from Google, but Sygate essentially allows any process to access the internet through ashwebsv.exe or ashmaisv.exe without asking for permission. Other firewalls often use a HIPS or check parent/child relationships to plug the hole.

19

Well remembered…

20

The sygate localhost proxy hole is somewhat negated by the fact that the web shield only allows through supported browsers by default. Unless like Tech you have changed the web shield OptinProcess to allow everything :stuck_out_tongue:

So everything that uses port 80 doesn’t pass through the web shield proxy, so should be challenged by sygate, unless it is a browser on the supported list.

However, I don’t like using firewalls that are no longer in development, that is the only reason I left Outpost firewall free and moved to the Pro version.