Whats the best free firewall?

monomer

All

Followed some links, starting from the Free Security thread here to the below web site:

http://www.grc.com/default.htm

As I remember, Steve Gibson (who runs the grc.com website) wasn't too fond of the BlackICE Defender Firewall, as it didn't monitor or have the capability to block any outgoing connections. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but he still has the BlackICE complaint up on his page on:

http://www.grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm

shrek101

Only Norton Firewall or Norton Internet Security has the firewall.

I use NIS 2003 and 2004 on two machines. Reason why I dont have 2204 installed on one of them is that it slows you pc down, as I got a slow pc as my server I use NIS 2003 and AVG 7 network edition for the anti virus. For some reason in NIS 2004 u cant bypass installing the anti virus where as 2003 u can.


I do also have a hardware firewall on the router but when I disabled NIS I got trojans. My advcie is to use several prgrams to check for trojans/viruses and malware etc.

How do you know if norton has firewall included?

monomer

From what I've read about free firewalls, Kerio seems to be the best.

I haven't used it for a while so I don't know about recent versions but when I used it, there were constant questions from it - much more than any other firewall

Latest news for Kerio users is that if you're running versions 4.0.0 through 4.1.1 of Kerio firewall, you should upgrade as soon as possible to 4.1.2 because of a vulnerability.

Successful exploitation causes the system to stop responding and requires the system to be restarted.

Ouch. :-[

£$&*"($£&(

My favourite free firewall is none at all. Same with anti virus software.

Noobie_2

Milsna, do you mind if a newbie asks why you think you have trojans?  (I’m NOT saying you haven’t, just curious as to what’s happening to make you think so).

As others have said, new virii, Trojans, etc, (or variations thereoff) appear ‘all the time’ so updating Windows (maybe see separate thread on ‘why update to SP2’), your AV, Spybot S&D, etc, etc, is pretty essential.

At the moment I’m very undecided about how effective AV apps are against Trojans.  There are some very sophisticated specialist anti-Trojan apps available (which appear not easy to use for newbies), however, I’ve very recently read a survey (going back to 2002?) which reckons that, in tests, most AVs actually detected FAR more Trojans than the specialist a-T’s did!

Can’t find any recent, independent, tests.

With regards to any product, different folks will swear by different products, firewalls no exception.  (Honestly haven’t seen anything to suggest Zone Alarm is weak – perhaps ‘maninblack’ can point me in the right direction?)

For example, I figure loads of people on this site may swear by Ad-aware.  I’ve no probs with that, but you may be interested in this article I came across in PCPro mag:

“… we ran Spy Sweeper on a system that had already been cleaned by AdAware, the program found 36 programs that AdAware claimed already to have done away with.”

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/buyer-reviews/56287/webroot-spysweeper-22.html?searchString=webroot+webroot

I’m trying Giant and that seems good (but not free?)

Couple of people have already mentioned Steve Gibson’s site (grc) – well worth a visit, try the leak test and, if you have time, maybe read the Classical DOS Attack (or whatever it’s called).  Also several other very useful articles / tools there.

If you think you’ve got a Trojan, you might consider a free trial of ewido - pretty simple to use and, maybe, pretty effective.  Results might be interesting – let us know if you try it?

Other than that, if you owe subs on Norton, maybe you’ll want to think about something else instead?  Latest opinion in the States seems to be ‘ditch Norton, get Trend’.  Personally don’t go for this (Trend bit that is, probably LOADSA reasons to ditch Norton, although it is, by all accounts, very good).  As you can see from Fran’s bit, loadsa free stuff available and lots of people on this site swear by AVG or Avast (although I think this recently failed VBA100% award).

If you’re going to consider your options, stick XP firewall on in the meantime – it ain’t that bad (try the leak test on it), just there’s (far?) better available for the same price (nowt).

Noobie

PS  I don't have any financial interest in any product, nor any axe to grind against any, either. I just wanna keep my pc safe from the ****holes out there who'd **** my pc and raid my bank account, etc.


PS2 I followed a link, followed a link, followed a link... from Fran's bit to this:
http://www.firewallguide.com/
Not sure how independent it is, but the advice seems good. Maybe worth a look.

Noobie_2

Grahawk, if you're saying the pay for stuff is better I'd *generally* agree, but not everyone can afford it and there seems to be loads of genuinely good free stuff available.

If I was totally paranoid I reckon I'd need three anti-spyware progs, three anti-trojan progs, plus my AV, firewall, etc. 'Cos none will pick EVERYTHING up. And who can afford that?

Reckon the only way to be totally safe on the internet is not to connect.

£$&*"($£&(

Grahawk, if you're saying the pay for stuff is better I'd *generally* agree, but not everyone can afford it and there seems to be loads of genuinely good free stuff available.  

If I was totally paranoid I reckon I'd need three anti-spyware progs, three anti-trojan progs, plus my AV, firewall, etc.  'Cos none will pick EVERYTHING up.  And who can afford that?

Reckon the only way to be totally safe on the internet is not to connect.

No that's no what I'm saying. If I was going to have a firewall or antivirus program I'd get a free one. I certainly wouldn't line the pockets of Norton et al. These programs sell on the back of hysteria and paranoia about internet security. I'm from the camp that believes this is ridiculous. A little care is all you need and that comes free as well.

dave_london

Hi,

I do computer security for a living, the thing is the an anti-virus system and a firewall are no longer enough unfortunately as they don't protect against what are known as application or operating system level exploits i.e. if you want to surf the web you need to have the ability so some viruses can utilise flaws in internet explorer (for example) to take control of your pc and do nasty things - usually these days to take remote control of your pc without you knowing about it.

For this reason another technology is also needed - intrusion prevention - which adds another layer or protection over and above a firewall and a/v syste,m. The good news (and no i have nothng to do with them) is that there is a company which gives home users this for free, the company is called "previx home" http://www.download.com/3000-8022-10334579.html should give more info.

To summarise, you need anti-virus (AVG is the best free one), a personal firewall (zone alarm is the best free one) and an ips system (previx is the only free one)

D

wirm

I use Zonealarm and rarely have any problems with it

same here!

peter_the_piper

The main problem with the Grahawk system is that not all users are clever enough to recognise the dangers on the internet. Firewalls etc are there for the 99.99% of us who arn't. I use a wireless router, software firewall, antivirus and spyware stoppers/removers as my computer is used by 3 people of various levels of paranoia. I don't currently use a Free firewall(nortons) but am watching with interest as I might save the money next year. Since using a router/modem I have noticed that attempted intrusions dropped from about 30 a day to zero.