What Security do you use?

albertross_2

zonealarm, kerio, sygate, comodo take your pick.

Mercenary

I downloaded a free full version of the Ashampoo Firewall and so far, no problems with conflicts etc. (And Windows 'firewall' is turned off).
Just wondered if any experts have an opinion on it?

Also running:

AVG AV
AVG AntiSpyware
ccleaner
Spybot SD & TeaTimer
Ad-Aware

Oh...and using Truecrypt to protect all my sensitive info

judderman62

Kittee-Kat wrote:

Which is the best free firewall to have ... i've got windows firewall, do i need another?

Yes you do - the windows one only works in one direction (can't remember which) so you definitely want another.

i used to use Zone Alarm which is pretty good and now use Sygate - which is also good

fgaughan

Mercenary wrote:

Just wondered if any experts have an opinion on it?

If you asking computer experts they would recommend Linux or Apple OS.
If your stucking with windows!! then any other software will do the job!

Mercenary

Thankyou.... but I meant experts in the sense of a few members here who know a little more about firewalls and computer programming than the rest of us and who may have tried the Ashampoo firewall and reached a positive or negative conclusion about it.

theloft

Mercenary wrote:

Thankyou.... but I meant experts in the sense of a few members here who know a little more about firewalls and computer programming than the rest of us and who may have tried the Ashampoo firewall and reached a positive or negative conclusion about it.

If you look on this site : https://www.download.com
and enter "Firewall" in the Search Box you will find several Firewalls avaialable. Some for purchase but many FREE ones. They also have a User rating and sometimes Editor's ratings. I tend to go for the User ratings. Zone Alarm and Sygate do an excellent job and Sygate is the one I use. Although Sygate was taken over by Symantec in 2005 and the free version withdrawn, it is still available
on this site:
http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=sygate
You should delete other Firewalls before installing, so Save it to a File and then load it when you are off line.
I am no expert but have taken advice from those who contribute to MSE. Toxteth O'Grady for one.

charlieheard

Mercenary wrote:

Thankyou.... but I meant experts in the sense of a few members here who know a little more about firewalls and computer programming than the rest of us and who may have tried the Ashampoo firewall and reached a positive or negative conclusion about it.

Someone on this forum recommended the "best 46 free utilities" site ages ago for comparisons of the various bits of freeware out there. I review it regularly to check on the progress applications.

I used to use ZoneAlarm, but found it gave me problems, so I moved to Sygate. This didn't change for ages, so I upgraded to Comodo several months ago, and it works for me...

Mercenary

theloft wrote:

If you look on this site : https://www.download.com
and enter "Firewall" in the Search Box you will find several Firewalls avaialable. Some for purchase but many FREE ones. They also have a User rating and sometimes Editor's ratings. I tend to go for the User ratings.

Thank you. Hmmm ... the Ashampoo firewall has good user ratings of 4 stars .

I made sure I'd disabled the Windows Firewall before installing it and had no previous other installation to worry about.
I am also behind a wireless router firewall but that, as is well known, does not stop things going OUT through it. This way I know which utility is connecting to what and when.

Bake_2

:A Just a note to "mbspuk"...

I have recently uninstalled Mcafee Antivirus in favour of having a freebie antivirus. Checked out a few web sites and forums and ended up downloading "AVAST 4" for home use. Whilst it was installing and rebooting etc. it suddenly said it wasn't compatible with ZoneAlarm firewall, but proceeded to install etc. I wasn't able to send or receive emails for two days. I tried everything possible to get Microsoft Outlook Express to work properly with no success. I finally caved in and bought ZoneLabs antivirus because I knew it would obviously be compatible. Computer is now working fine.???

Just a note for anyone else out there who is thinking of doing the same thing. Avast is an excellent program but doesn't work with everyone's computer that has ZoneAlarm firewall.

GaryS

Router firewall. - Hidden SSID, MAC access list.

CA Internet Suite (Anti-Virus, Firewall, Anti-Spam & Anti Spyware)
This costs about £20.00 per year.

Adaware SE

Spybot

So far no problems on 4 desktops and 2 laptops in over 3 years.