Firewall Suggestions

HOLsale

i've had it up to my back teeth with mcafee (see this thread if you want to know why)

i've previously scorned XP's built in firewall as microsoft is such a huge targets for hackers, it just seemed to be inviting trouble iyswim

anyway, i had take xp's firewall off and installed the mcafee that we had on our old computer. it always worked fine til recently and now it's making me so angry i could spit nails

finally got around it deciding to block ip addresses willy nilly and now it won't let me download stuff from these sites :mad: :wall:

soooooooo that's it, it can sling it's hook i'm looking for something more reliable and less interfering

so, how safe is XP's firewall? i'm using XP pro

what about freebie firewalls? i know avg is superb for free antivirus and i've used it for years but i'm not so familiar with the free firewall arena

any help very much appreciated... please, i really need to at least maintain the semblance of sanity and mcafee is threatening to take that down with it in a blaze of glory :eek: :mad:

abwsco

I use Zone Alarm and you can download the free version here

rogerramjet

Get zone alarm its a free fire wall and works well

abwsco beat me to it but that shows its worth getting

christie_m

I'm currently evaluating the Sunbelt-Kerio firewall, which looks pretty good. Migrated away from Trend, which seemed to be taking ever longer to boot up and update - suspected it was becoming bloatware.

There's a $15 charge for the Sunbelt f/w, but I know guys on here are using the free Kerio one. Personally I like something that is supported and updated...but hey you pays your money and takes your choice.

http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio.cfm

jaws77

I would recommend you invest in a hardware router/firewall. The protection a NAT table offers is very good.

HOLsale

jaws77 wrote:

I would recommend you invest in a hardware router/firewall. The protection a NAT table offers is very good.

could you please explain this in more detail... i don't know anything about firewall hardware, just software

christie_m

Lifted directly from whatis.com...saves re-inventing the wheel:-

"...For home and business computer users who have high-speed Internet connections, a wireless router can also act as a hardware firewall. This is true even if the home or business has only one computer. Many engineers believe that the use of a router provides superior protection against hacking because individual computer IP addresses are not directly exposed to the Internet..."

Basically a hardware router gives you an additional layer of security between your PC and the Internet. You do still need a software firewall installed on your PC in my humble opinion...choose from one of the options listed.

P.S. If you install the Sunbelt F/W make sure you disable the "Generate Crash Dump" option on the Preferences tab...when it was enabled it absolutely slowed my machines down to a grind. Disabling this option made it fly again.

cloud_dog

You need a hardware firewall/router as it will sheild your PC from the outside world, also good routers will pretend you are not there from unsolicited requests, i.e. will not even respond to requests that did not originate from your domain.

You need a software firewall to control access, espcially if you have wifi enabled, and more importantly allow access from your PC to the outside world, i.e. trojans (if you are unfortunate enough to get one).

I tried Zone alarm but found it 'tiring' to set up how I liked it - I'm not saying it isn't any good at what it does just htat I found it..... well.....'tiring' to configure. Have been running Kerio Personal Firewall (free) for a while and am very pleased with it - would highly recemmend it. I am amazed at the number of products (mostly micosh*t that have an unfouded need to 'report back home').

Edit: Another place worth visiting is https://www.grc.com/
They will run tests to check your PC's/firewalls vulnerabilities. Very worthwhile

cloud_dog

HOLsale

don't you use a router when you network two computers together?

we've got a belkin something or other and we've been wanting to set up a network but dh is having problems because this machine is a pc and the other is a mac

maybe that would help?

this is not my area of expertise though i must say i feel like i learned several years worth of pc maintenance lessons today dealing with mcafee blocking ip addresses for no appearant reason (and trying to figure out that THAT was indeed my problem!) sheesh!

guess i'm up for learning just about anything, though maybe tomorrow, i've got a migraine now :rolleyes:

jaws77

Have a read of this, it will probably make more sense as I tend to bable on a bit

http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2004/firewall_types.asp

christie_m

Cloud_dog - I had similar problems with Zone Alarm. Got fed up with after 20 mins and downloaded the Sunbelt F/W. All singing and all dancing, even in advanced mode when you have to play "...teach the F/W what Firefox is..."

HOLsale - After what Cloud-dog has said I'd recommend the Kerio or Sunbelt F/W even more strongly.