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Definitive Best Firewall 2012

Asked by Lee G.,

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Definitive Best Firewall 2012  

321 members have voted

  1. 1. Your Choice?

    • BitDefender
      2
    • BlackIce
      1
    • Comodo Firewall
      48
    • Eset Smart Security
      12
    • Hardware Firewall / NAT Router
      8
    • Jetico
      0
    • Kaspersky Internet Security
      9
    • Lavasoft
      0
    • Linux Based Firewall Software
      2
    • Look 'n' Stop
      0
    • McAfee
      0
    • Microsoft ISA
      1
    • Norton Internet Security
      7
    • Outpost
      5
    • Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall
      0
    • Tiny
      1
    • Windows Built-In Firewall
      53
    • Windows One-Care
      0
    • Zone Alarm
      3
    • Other (please specify)
      6

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34 answers to this question

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  • 0
Grand Master

n_K

Posted
Posted

I always used to (and still do) use BlackICE and thought it was a pretty decent firewall, but apparently all a firewall does is block ports (mainly input). The analysing of traffic and rejecting packets etc. is the IPS part which is seperate from a firewall, so in terms of firewalls I'm using Comodo (on W7), BlackICE (on server), IPTables (on this linux box and my linux server) and snort [iPS] (on linux server).

  • 0
Grand Master

goretsky Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

Hello Theresa,

These programs function as application firewalls. What that means is that these programs run on the host operating system and intercept network traffic in order to filter it and examine it for threats, or other unwanted/undesireable behavior. They can also do various things like blocking access to particular sites or network traffic ports, prevent programs from accessing the Internet on a case-by-case basis and so forth. They are similar to hardware firewalls and, in fact, have some overlap in functionality, but for the most part they perform a complementary function.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

LOL, how is a software a firewall?

  • 0
Mentor

htcz

Posted
Posted

There are two types of firewall: Hardware and software.

Most routers have a basic (but highly configurable, depends on what router) firewall. It might be a overkill but most networks should have both: A basic very "loose" configured hardware firewall (and highly configured for machines that cant have a firewall installed) and a personalized software one.

Windows 7 Firewall, although OK, is weak compared to others out there on tha market (free and paid) :)

  • 0
Grand Master

goretsky Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

Hello,

Since this is such a Windows-centric forum, I chose to select Windows applications for the poll.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

No SNORT?

I use iptables and SNORT on server and just iptables on this PC, comodo on all windows PCs.

  • 0
Grand Master

TEX4S

Posted
Posted

Windows 7 built in firewall has always been good enough for me

Yep.

I will never see the need for a 3rd party software firewall for home users - It seems like beefing up security for a moot purpose.

Its like - OK you have 95% of data protected, add this firewall for another 3% - then tell everyone how great that 3% is -- and try to tell someone that little addition blocked something important that would otherwise cause problems...

Anyone else feel like a software firewall - with anti-virus - Windows firewall - and most have a router of some sort - is a bit of misguided paranoia ?

  • 0
Enthusiast

pinprick

Posted
Posted

Oh please Windows Built-In Firewall... The topic clearly says what's the best not what the majority uses :D. Does it even have outbound filtering by default ? I use little snitch in mac os x (just oubound) and the default mac os x firewall for requests from the wan. http://www.matousec.com/

Outgoing protection is paramont for windows since it is easier for malware to infiltrate and report data to the exterior without user consent.

  • 0
Enthusiast

pinprick

Posted
Posted

Lol what is this a comodo promotional thread? Comodo AV failed all the virusbtn tests and you can expect similar performance of their firewall. Outpost has been the definitive best for years.

Yeah its true that their anti-virus is deficient but their firewall is top-notch http://www.matousec.com/.

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