The Definitive "BEST FIREWALL" thread

[MxxCon]

i'm so sick of these threads poping up every single week. so here's the one and only thread you should need untill the end of your life. moderator can modify poll entries to update.

BEST FIREWALL

[PseudoRandomDragon]

I am not going to bother explaining. You think a stealth scan means everything, I know that it doesn't.

[Hurmoth]

Well, I don't really run a firewall anymore because I have a hardware firewall, but if I had to choose a software firewall, I would choose McAfee Firewall or the up and coming built-in firewall in WinXP SP2!

[b3ta]

The firewall in Windows XP SP2 - free and stable. Works just great!

[Flyer72]

Any suggestions which firewall is the LEAST hog on your system? I might try XP SP2 firewall... Currently using Kerio PF which is good - but I don't really need all the features!

[Spyder Veteran]

my choice was mcafee personal firewall (v8).. i use it at home. powerful & easy. nice looking interface too! :)

[PseudoRandomDragon]

Took a look at Mcafee and found it to be good, maybe just a small notch below Norton. I wonder why they don't get as much votes? Why has Mcafee declined so much? They were like THE antivirus program on just about every HP computer. Now all their products lost so much popularity. What happened?

[Garrett Socling]

now how the hell did the windows xp built in firewall get so many votes?

How the hell did ZoneAlarm get so many...

:unsure:

[Evolution]

How the hell did ZoneAlarm get so many...

:unsure:

because most people go with what's popular and something simple enough that even a non-computer user can figure out :p

BTW the only disadvantage that the sp2 firewall has over zonealarm is that it doesn't do md5 checksums.

[PseudoRandomDragon]

Does WinXPSP2 firewall check components?

[Ephemeral]

:punk: Outpost!

[nmeu]

hardware firewall!!!

[Sumi]

it keeps alerting me every day that there are attempts to get into my computer from an unknown ip address. it blocks it everytime.

whether this is true or not, i will never know.

When I used used norton it did the same thing - but with network ip's: 192.168.1.9 is trying to gain access to your computer, attempt blocked... Yea - my mom is trying to access the shared docs folder...

Not that I dislike Norton in any way - remember disable pop-ups....

But now I use ZoneAlarm and ICF - And with disabled pop-ups...

[Jexel]

When I used used norton it did the same thing - but with network ip's: 192.168.1.9 is trying to gain access to your computer, attempt blocked... Yea - my mom is trying to access the shared docs folder...

Not that I dislike Norton in any way - remember disable pop-ups....

But now I use ZoneAlarm and ICF - And with disabled pop-ups...

Firstly from years of experience never use nis in conjunction with zap as you'll get stuff flying everywhere. I personally suggest zone alarm pro as it is reliable however nis does have a popup blocker which is quite useful. Anways when u first install either firewall i.e. clean install you'll get notifications of a server attempting to portscan u. Nis will block this ip for 30 minutes. This IP is basically ur ISP!!! And after clicking okay in NIS u'll find that u'll have trouble accessing ur internet through ur web browser. The easy way is to unblock the server and add it to ur exceptions list.

Overall Zonealarm is ultra 1337

[krmathis]

Any *nix solution.

At the moment I use Mac OS X built in firewall. :D

[PseudoRandomDragon]

Overall Zonealarm is ultra 1337

@n 3X?3|eNT @n@|i$iz

[pkill]

i think norton or zone alarm are the best

[BatGnat]

I would like to know, how many of the peoplewho have voted have ran anything other than what they voted for.

I have Run (in order) BlackIce,Nav2003,ZA4.5,BlackIce.

I am not ultra happy with any of them, but I Like BlackICE.

[AmoK^]

Why there is no Agnitum Outpost firewall in poll?

Outpost is the best.....

[dreamsINdigital]

Why there is no Agnitum Outpost firewall in poll?

Outpost is the best.....

Umm Outpost is in the poll...

Yes, it is very good... I'm using it now. :)

[vip]

Ok, I just read through this thread ... i know it's kind of late, but hey .. what can I say, I'm slow. I'd really like some facts comparing outpost to ZA PRO4 (zapro5 sucks) .. i've heard from other people that the filters ZA Pro installs slows down internet speeds, and p2p apps like Bittorrent.. I'd like to give outpost a try, but going on 'outpost rocks, or outpost is my choice' doesnt really convince a person. Why do the people that use outpost prefer it to anything else?

[Daedalus]

I prefer Outpost. It has a very easy to use interface and advanced features. It is also very light on system resources. Here is an except from the review over at PC Pro:

If you throw in the reduction in CPU load by more than 50 per cent and memory hogging by 40 per cent over previous versions - thanks to the new logging system - the case for Outpost Pro gets even stronger. Of all the software firewalls we've tested in the last year, Outpost has the least impact upon system resources, despite its ability to handle up to 1Gb/sec of continual traffic and monitor 200 simultaneous connections.

Of course, no software option could claim to be the perfect firewall, but Outpost is the best of its breed and fully deserves its A List placing.

The full review can be found (surprisingly enough) in the 'Reviews' section. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/

Hope this helps.

[Duluoz]

Hardware firewalls are of course the best setup. However...

I currently use BlackICE. But when Iused to run a chat server that would get SYN flooded and Frag'd to death on a daily basis, I installed everything from BlackICE Server Ed - ZoneAlarm Pro and about 10 others inbetween. I have to admit that 8Signs Firewall was the BEST by far at detecting when a SYN attacks were going to happen, successfully block it, as well as allow me to apply rules to still allow traffic to flow that should be permited. The overhead to the CPU was extreamly low as well. However, the down side is that its not all for the novice user. But when you getting DoS, SYN, and Fragmented File attacks, its in my opinion, the best software defence. For you Win2k users consider editing your regitry to accomidate for SYN attacks as well; it does help.

[Jsu]

Sygate Personal Firewall PRO all the way!

[Intersect]

i use a hardwarefirewall , trendmicro gatelockx200. it also offers antivirus scanning of the system and incomming and out going emails. www.gatelockgobal.com

but sadly Trendmicro no longer sell the unit but still provide suport for it.

[[X]]

I use Outpost free edition. so far so good :)