What Is The Best Free Firewall Today?

General Topics
1

Hi Guys! i just want to know according to your experience… what is the best free firewall today?

thank in advance :slight_smile:

2

Personal Firewall Tests & Results. Firewall rating:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/results.php
About the leak tests limitations: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=29259.msg247460#msg247460

Freeware firewalls:
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/tests_overview.php
http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/firewalls.shtml

I suggest Comodo for XP and PC Tools for Vista.

3

Wow! thanks for the links sir :slight_smile:

4

You’re welcome. Feel free to come back any time you need help you just to change experiences 8)

5

Jetico v1
PC Tools Firewall Plus
ZoneAlarm

Alphabetical order.

6

hhhmmm jetico is not familiar for me i will try this one :wink:

7

I like Jetico, too. Online Armor is good with the ease of use user right control for online applications. Windows built-in firewall is decent for incoming traffics, though. BTW, I wonder if it is going to be free or not but what happened to the firewall being developed by Alwil?

8

I think we are given trial period to use pctools…you need to pay after the trial period

9

You must have mistaken PC Tools Internet Security for PC Tools Firewall Plus.

In any case, no info on Alwil firewall? Guess I’d better drop by later. :stuck_out_tongue:

10

IMO ZoneAlarm is the best firewall.
I have never had any problems with it :slight_smile:

11
I think we are given trial period to use pctools...you need to pay after the trial period
pctools firewall is free and there is also a free version of threatfire-both are not trial versions :)
12

I have been studying the tests on firewalls and it appears that Online Armor Free firewall is very good.
Has anyone had some direct experience with it. They recently came out with a new version.

I have never used a firewall and i am wondering if it is needed.
I currently use AvastHome and SpywareTerminator with HIPS and run Win2000.
Does a firewall slow down the computer and surfing?

I will appreciate your thoughts on this.

13

Hi greyowl,

Well more or less everybody (or they must be very advanced users) need to have some sort of firewall installed (hardware or software fw). Some firewalls are lean on the cycles, other can make your comp a bit of a slow starter, but what they defend against (malware and especially forms of spyware and adware) is what is really slowing your computer down or bring it to a grinding halt even, or your computer will rank in a zombie pack and is not owned by you anymore, what do you prefer?

polonus

14

Thanks for the perspective on this issue.

I would like to find a lean firewall that would be effective but not be too big a drag on the computer. Is it likely that the coming AvastFirewall will be a good candidate?

It appears that with the new Avast4.8 an additional antispyware may not be necessary which will mean one less program to use up resources.

15

Greyowl,

I recommend ZoneAlarm for you since you have never used a firewall. ZA is the easiest fw to use & gives great protection. I’ve used many different fw’s. In my sig. you will see I’m using ZA. It’s good for the experienced & the novice. :slight_smile:

16

rdmaloyjr,

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have read other places that ZoneAlarm was easy to use, but on the tests of firewalls it didn’t come out as good as others. I am dubious about the accuracy of the tests because so many people on the forum use ZoneAlarm. You obviously must find it effective.

Thanks again.

17

Hi, my experience with online armor is that this program will slow browsing speeds somewhat. It is a very easy program to use though,the hips feature is fairly quite.Hope this helps, tim

18

The free version has weak anti-leak abilities, but the paid versions are respectable.

I am dubious about the accuracy of the tests because so many people on the forum use ZoneAlarm. You obviously must find it effective.

Not saying that ZA is bad, but Most people have no clue if something is effective or not. How could they? It’s not like they would hire a hacker to try to crack their system… or they have the expertise to actually evaluate (and no, reading tests doesn’t mean you have a clue either).

At best most people use security software that

  1. Some guy they trust as a guru told them is not bad/ or they follow the crowd
  2. When they install it, it doesn’t crash their computer

The following the crowd tendency means that current “popular” security software is typically not too bad, but not nearly close to what you could do for protection if you actually did some research and testing…

Usually by the time some software becomes popular enough to filter into mainstream use, most of the “wired” people have moved away to something better…

19

Lusher,

I’ve never had a problem with so-called fw leaks & I’ve used some of the best firewalls & HIPS that protect from “fw leaks.” Never read a post in this forum where someone was infected from a “fw leak”, AFAIK.

If something got through a “fw leak”, WinPatrol would probably warn of it or it’s start up & my AS and/or AV would take care of it. That is what they’re for. It would be very hard for anything to get thru Opera. One forum (don’t remember which one) had a discussion on Opera is effectively sandboxed.

I’m not paranoid. ;D The only really safe computer is unplugged. ;D If I have to keep mine unplugged, I’ll get rid of it. ;D ;D ;D

20

Hi Sir you are using zone alarm firewall without any conflict to avast? 'cuz before i install zone alarm together with avast it’s conflict what did you do? hhhmmmnnnn…

can you please give me some instructions?

thanks in advance.