Thread: Pick Your Firewall

Guys, I've been using Windows firewall for long... I never faced any problem with it yet...Recently, 1 friend on this forum told me that Windows firewall is not good enough in case of My ISP BSNL

So, I'm kinda thinking of upgrading my firewall... Please mention the firewall you use... Its features... And if u've tested & rejected any other firewall... Then also give the name & your reasons...

I give my vote to windows firewall cuz I'm pretty much satisfied with it so far... But can't take any chance...

I use Zone Alarm Free Version. I have tried three other free version firewalls besides Windows Firewall(don't remember their names). All of them were too hard to setup.

● It's easy to use and simple.
● One click Internet Lock which stops all internet activities.
● One click Game mode suppresses all security alerts.
● Simple and easy to understand settings.
● Notifies all incoming and outgoing connections.
● Stealth/Invisible mode.
● Stops unknown/unwanted programs from accessing internet(Automatically/Manually).
● Not unwanted or hard to understand settings, only the essential ones.
● Only requires 128MB RAM for XP.

Yeah, now I remember one of them was Ashampoo FireWall. It wasn't very effective for me. And it was a little hard to setup. I am going to stick with Zone Alarm. I don't trust this but Top Ten Reviews Site says Zone Alarm is the best personal FireWall.

Vishnus89 kindly clarify my below doubt...

http://www.indiabroadband.net/bsnl-b...html#post43467 (problems)

Originally Posted by vishnus89

I use Zone Alarm Free Version. I have tried three other free version firewalls besides Windows Firewall(don't remember their names). All of them were too hard to setup.

● It's easy to use and simple.
● One click Internet Lock which stops all internet activities.
● One click Game mode suppresses all security alerts.
● Simple and easy to understand settings.
● Notifies all incoming and outgoing connections.
● Stealth/Invisible mode.
● Stops unknown/unwanted programs from accessing internet(Automatically/Manually).
● Not unwanted or hard to understand settings, only the essential ones.
● Only requires 128MB RAM for XP.

Hmmm....Nice review... Seems pretty easy to use... what's this stealth/invisible mode?

for me windows firewall is the only option from the very first day and i never faced any problems with that. Firewall is something which you can config yourself.
For Antivirus AVG is there

zone alarm is no doubt the best , even better if you buy the pro

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Hmmm....Nice review... Seems pretty easy to use... what's this stealth/invisible mode?

Stealth mode is a security level of the firewall. Zone Alarm have 2 security levels you can set.

1• Stealth mode/High- Computer is hidden and protected from hackers. Sharing is not allowed. This setting is recommended for Internet Zones.

2• Visible but protected mode/Medium- Computers can see your computer but cannot share its resources. Incoming NetBIOS is blocked. This setting is recommended for temporary use in Internet Zones (when using torrents).

Forgot to say something before. Zone Alarm shows a pop up for every outgoing or incoming connection to/from the computer which you need to click Allow or Deny.



You can set it not to for each program. But, it might seem annoying first. I think its good that it does this. Because I will know whenever an unknown/unwanted program tries to connect to internet. I think all firewall software does this. And Zone Alarm's is the easiest to configure.

Well, Quick Heal Firewall Pro is quite good according to my experience and I will recommend it:14:

Why comodo was not included?

I use comodo with vista and been using sygate for the last 3 yrs on xp.. the best and the simplest.

Originally Posted by StarryKnight

Why comodo was not included?

I use comodo with vista and been using sygate for the last 3 yrs on xp.. the best and the simplest.

Perhaps u missed it... its there on 3rd no. in poll... btw, can u gv some reviews bout comodo...

I have Windows Firewall and nothing else (besides the router firewall). I have not been affected as yet.

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Perhaps u missed it... its their on 3rd no. in poll... btw, can u gv some reviews bout comodo...

Yeah now all of a sudden i see it... i think its the long hours on the system takin a toll on me ...

anyways comodo is a very good firewall along with a HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System) so it acts like an antivirus too, any malicious activity (for that matter any activity) will first take permission from you if u suspect a virus, just block the activity....
but with hips comes the annoyance of multiple popups when u first start using the firewall tho the firewall learns the behavior patterns of programs in different modes.

One of them is training mode in which it will train itself with the programs u run so in future will not popup on u for it. The firewall is hard to get around. Its also got leak protection... and a good support forum. All in all a very good and free product. I find its better than all others.

Originally Posted by just4kix

I have Windows Firewall and nothing else (besides the router firewall). I have not been affected as yet.

The router firewall is the reason u r good... Its the best thing that can happen for a computer. Even the active windows firewall is useless with it. A software firewall is not necessary with a router.

Tell me the disadvantages of using a windows firewall ... knight ?

Well there is only one disadvantage of win xp pro firewall that its not a bidirectional firewall. It only prevents computers or hackers from making connections TO your pc not ur programs connecting to the outside. The latter is very necessary.

It was because of this that i knew a virus had struck me since winlogon.exe was trying to connect to some website. I did not have avira antivirus then.. stupid norton with sygate. I did not even know i had been infected until the popup from sygate appeared and i cud take the necssary action against it (first of all blocking the connection). Worms and various other viruses make connections to the outside which u wud not b notified with xp firewall. The win vista firewall on the other hand is bidirectional.

Originally Posted by StarryKnight

Well there is only one disadvantage of win xp pro firewall that its not a bidirectional firewall. It only prevents computers or hackers from making connections TO your pc not ur programs connecting to the outside. The latter is very necessary.

It was because of this that i knew a virus had struck me since winlogon.exe was trying to connect to some website. I did not have avira antivirus then.. stupid norton with sygate. I did not even know i had been infected until the popup from sygate appeared and i cud take the necssary action against it (first of all blocking the connection). Worms and various other viruses make connections to the outside which u wud not b notified with xp firewall. The win vista firewall on the other hand is bidirectional.

Well, thanx for the information... Infact thats the reason y I wanted to upgrade the firewall... I had been infected by Vundu trojan sometime back while trying to install an infected program... Despite Spybot's teatimer alerts I allowed it to install...Stupidity engulfed me that day...lol..

After its installation or rather infection, although the windows firewall was on I wasn't able to stop this program from connecting to internet and popping up ads of anti-virus & anti-spywares(I cudn't b'lieve it... a trojan making mockery of anti-viruses...lol)... My anti-virus(E-scan...gave it a chance cuz its using Kaspersky engine) completely missed it...Spybot scan was able to minimize the damage...and stop those pop-ups... still there were registry entries and a couple of stubborn dll files refusing to b deleted in system folder... Thinking of not taking any chances... I installed Windows defender... Voila, that did the trick... Chun-Chun kar maar daala... hehe

Ur review and one other review in a magazine has convinced me about going for Comodo... I want to take control of not only inbound & outbound connections... but also of basic system activites... even if a msg pops up that explorer is trying to access computer screen in training mode... I won't mind...

Zonealarm seems to be feature-rich, efficient and user friendly... but comodo appears geeky with more to offer...

p.s.- U just earned 1 repo...

I really missed hips on xp pro 2 months back when even avira failed (it NEVER fails!) to detect a virus..tho it was added on the detection list the next day :X, i just had to format my comp (the c: of course)... If i had comodo installed i wud've never had to format, wud've just blocked the damned virus...
ps. thanx

Thanks for the info ..
Repo added

Well as both of u (mad and knight know so much about firewalls ) ...give me a suggestion for a free firewall ... I already use an Avast Pro antivirus

I had once tried using AVG Firwall... but discovered it was BULL S***

Didnt stop a hack attack ..... by a Trojan i think

There's nothing more bad than AVG... better stay away from them. Use what i use.. i use sygate on xp sp3 and comodo on vista sp1. They are just perfect.

Bitdefender 2008 antivirus-firewall for me.
Have used it for last one year and m more than happy with it.
I download plenty of stuff and still no infection so far.

Originally Posted by Evander Leopold

Bitdefender 2008 antivirus-firewall for me.
Have used it for last one year and m more than happy with it.
I download plenty of stuff and still no infection so far.

I know... Its best out there along with Kaspersky...

yeah,
although bitdefender is costlier than kaspersky, its worth buying.
I have never seen such a great antivirus-firewall suite before.

I like commodo, merely because its a freeware .

Earlier I used Zone alarm and liked it very much too..

Both seem to be equally good.

yeah, they r good too.
I remember long time ago I used Giant.

zonealarm firewall and windows firewall.
both are good.

Kaspersky is so far better and best