PC Tools Firewall Plus Opinions Please (or other recommendations?!)

herman2811

I'm looking for a free firewall for my Vista laptop, and was hoping people could give me some opinions about:

PC Tools Firewall Plus.

Yes, I know of the "usual suspects" Zonealarm and Commodo, but I've had issues with these....

Commodo seems to block certain windows updates so I end up having to uninstall it to get the updates, then re-installing it again!

Zonealarm seems to stop one of my programs from working properly no matter what I do.

So what do people think of the PC Tools one?

Or I'm very open to suggestions if there are any other free ones?

Thanks in advance

wakandem

the included firewall in vista is fine & imo is all you need. If you install any other, be sure to disable the vista one otherwise you will get problems.

zincoxide

Are you directly connecting to the internet or do you go through a router?

I have Vista too and have avoided ALL firewalls, just switched on windows firewall & my router firewall to block all incoming connections unless I permit it. This might sound a little risky, but provided you keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware up to date then it should be fine.

herman2811

I use a Netgear Router. (DG834G v3)

If vista's own firewall works, then great!

Re: the router firewall... is this on automatically or do I need to do anything to set it up? I haven't come across any info about a firewall on the router.

herman2811

PS - would it be bad at all if, in Vista's firewall, i DON'T block all incoming connections?

One of the programs I use requires incoming connections.... have tried adding it as an exception, without success though.

zincoxide

I would still block all incoming connections - you can use port forwarding to leave one port open for an application to accept incoming connections. Click Here

That site will give you details on how to have one port open. By default your firewall in the router should probably be on - you can access your routers homepage by typing 192.168.1.1 (usually, although your manual will confirm this), you'll then need the password which again will be in your manual. If you can't find your manual you can get it for free on Netgears site.

Vista's own firewall has been fine for me so far, combined with the router firewall, my anti-virus & anti-spyware, I'm figuring I should be fine and my laptop runs better!!

zincoxide

Meant to say, that link is specifically for your router, if anyone else wants to do this they can access the port forwarding site here.

herman2811

zincoxide wrote: »

I would still block all incoming connections - you can use port forwarding to leave one port open for an application to accept incoming connections. Click Here

That site will give you details on how to have one port open. By default your firewall in the router should probably be on - you can access your routers homepage by typing 192.168.1.1 (usually, although your manual will confirm this), you'll then need the password which again will be in your manual. If you can't find your manual you can get it for free on Netgears site.

Vista's own firewall has been fine for me so far, combined with the router firewall, my anti-virus & anti-spyware, I'm figuring I should be fine and my laptop runs better!!

I have already forwarded a port, but if I block all incoming applications, the application in question says incoming connections are not being accepted?!

How do I set up Vista's firewall to accept incoming connections to this particular port, whilst also blocking all other incoming connections?

zincoxide

Go to control panel then windows firewall. On the top left there is an option called 'allow a program through windows firewall'. Click on this and simply put a tick next to the program you want to have access to incoming & outgoing connections.

herman2811

zincoxide wrote: »

Go to control panel then windows firewall. On the top left there is an option called 'allow a program through windows firewall'. Click on this and simply put a tick next to the program you want to have access to incoming & outgoing connections.

This is "creating an exception" isn't it, which I have tried to do.

However, as soon as you tick the "block all incoming connections" box, all the exceptions are ignored

So I can't see how to block all incoming connections, apart from for one particular program??

herman2811

Just thought I'd bump this post in the hope that someone might be able to assist....

Here's hoping!