Which software firewall for XP/Vista?

esuhl

awacko wrote: »

I'm still pretty new to all this so I am getting a bit lost . I've got Windows Vista operating system, I've AVG (and Mcafee which I've just been told to remove) and also use Windows Defender. I access via a modem on a phone line. Am I right in saying that this is not enough and if so which is the best free option for my set-up - please try and keep it as simple as you can as I find it all a bit confusing to be honest but don't want to have problems later. Thanks

You only need one software firewall and one antivirus on your PC (so, yes - get rid of either McAfee or AVG). Personally I prefer Avira Antivir as it's a lot lighter than AVG (my test PC running XP showed it used ~8MB of RAM compared to AVG's ~38MB).

In addition, something to block or scan for malware would be good. Spybot S&D and SpywareBlaster are on every PC I manage. I can't recommend them enough!

spud17

Tall Emu Online Armor

I've been using Online Armor Free for nearly 12mths, after Comodo messed up when they introduced 3.0.

Found it suggested at Gizmos.

It has an installation wizard that scans your programs, then requires you to allow any software it doesn't recognise. So making YOU check.

I've tried Comodo, Sunbelt Kerio and ZoneAlarm, and Online Armor is the only one to remember every time you tick the "Remember" box.

Just recently updated to include Vista.

Good forum with active company participation.

silvercar

Windows built-in firewall

Conor wrote: »

Windows Firewall if you're on ADSL/Cable and using a router.

Absolutely completely and utterly pointless putting a third party firewall on as Windows Firewall and the NAT on the router prevents inbound connections.

Users on the whole are pretty much completely stupid so will click allow or yes on a firewall prompt for an outbound connection because they have no clue what is wanting to talk to the internet and they got sick of clicking allow every time they fired up their browser. So the whole point of a third party firewall is usually completely negated by the stupidity of the person at the keyboard.

So glad you said this.

After a year of zonealarm and yelling at everyone to check what they were allowing, I dumped it and stuck to windows. All on a virgin router.

totalsolutions

I don't use one the NAT router is good enough for me. On Vista.

Conor_3

Windows built-in firewall

awacko wrote: »

I'm still pretty new to all this so I am getting a bit lost . I've got Windows Vista operating system, I've AVG (and Mcafee which I've just been told to remove) and also use Windows Defender. I access via a modem on a phone line. Am I right in saying that this is not enough and if so which is the best free option for my set-up - please try and keep it as simple as you can as I find it all a bit confusing to be honest but don't want to have problems later. Thanks

Accessing using a modem, you definitely need a firewall as your PC is connected directly to the internet whereas someone using a router is connected to the router and it's the router that's connected directly to the internet and does the firewalling thing.. Vistas built in one is good enough TBH and it's enabled by default so there's no need to be panicking.