[Fury]

Using a firewall router which I have defaulted to block incoming connections (except those which I explicitly allow) and allow outgoing connections. I rather use a software firewall to monitor outgoing connections per application basis.

I had used Kerio Personal Firewall a long time, but I got fed up with it because of its high CPU usage during high-speed data transfers such as 100Mbit ethernet and even more so during FireWire transfers. Then I learned that Kerio will discontinue the product on December 31st.

So I went looking for alternatives, Sygate Personal Firewall has not been updated since October 2004 and Sygate was bought by Symantec anyway... ZoneAlarm is downright crap, Tiny Personal Firewall is everything else but tiny...

For the moment I am settled with Outpost Firewall 3.0 Trial, at first I found the interface to be horrendous, I so much preferred Kerio's way to handling things. But at least Outpost does not have insane CPU usage during high-speed data transfers. For whatever reason Outpost sometimes blocks connections that rules should already allow, a bit annoying.

If you know decent software firewalls for Win, let me know.


I know this has been discussed several times along with anti-virus softwares, but as you probably have noticed, search is borked right now...

[Kamikaze]

I don't know if this has the features you're looking for, but it's free and open source: Winsock Firewall

Edit: I also found these freeware firewalls:

• Softperfect Personal Firewall
  
• Jettico Personal Firewall
  

[Mongoose]

Just out of curiosity, what do you dislike about ZoneAlarm?  I've been using the free version for more than a year now, and I've never had any problems with it.

[Fury]

Kamikaze, thanks. Those firewalls don't exactly strike me with confidence but I'll take a look should no better alternatives come up.

Mongoose, ZoneAlarm just did not work. It's got incompatibility problems with at least two other softwares that I am running. If that wasn't enough, in the first 10 minutes it decided to give !!!! about the rules that were created, in the end it blocked whole net only because it felt like doing it.

[Nix]

I heard over on Sygate's forums that Computer Associates will be acquiring ZoneAlarm, they already use a re-branded version of Zonealarm for thier EZ Firewall.  Sooner or later though they will probably roll out a version that's "new and improved" hopefully something like thier corporate version of firewall.  Ive bought Sygate about a year and a half ago, and signature updates still get released.  The engine though hasnt been updated in a long time.  I'd advise saying NO to Symantec, if at all possible.  A big NO NO NO to McAfee's firewall too.  That damn thing burrows so deep into your system you'll never get it out again.

[Fury]

I've been sort of getting accustomized with Outpost's different interface. It works, which cannot be said of ZA and from what I can tell, it does still have a future unlike Sygate and Kerio.

Now I'm can't help but wonder if that if I buy single user license for one computer, can I still install it on two computers... I rather not buy family license for 5 computers.

[redsniper]

I've just found and installed the Omniquad firewall and it seems to work alright. I think it's only a trial version though... any more recommendations for good free firewalls would be nice.

[Fury]

Apparently Outpost Firewall Pro 3.0 should function as a free edition when trial period ends, I do not know what features the free version lacks though.

[redsniper]

Hmm... I think I'll try that then. Omniquad starting screwing up Firefox so I uninstalled it.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Note to everyone, zonealarm intentionally blocks ICS (Internet connection sharing), even the pro version that is supposed to allow ICS blocks it.

Sygate personal firewall crashes immediately after installation so no dice there and I don't have a spare box to set up smoothwall or a linux based NAT/Firewall.

Bugger.
[/color]

[Fury]

Maeglamor, after trying a lot of credible Win32 firewall solutions, I came to the conclusions that Outpost is most likely currently the best. Kerio and Sygate are out of the picture and ZoneAlarm is just crap. Tiny is truly a story of its own... Most of the remaining credible firewalls are Internet Security suites which come with anti-virus, such as Norton. No dice there.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]Cheers Fury, I'll take a look at it.
[/color]

[Mongoose]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Note to everyone, zonealarm intentionally blocks ICS (Internet connection sharing), even the pro version that is supposed to allow ICS blocks it. [/color]

Out of curiosity, what exactly does ICS do?  I've never experienced anything being blocked by ZoneAlarm, at least not to my knowledge, so I'm guessing I've never tried to make use of it.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Note to everyone, zonealarm intentionally blocks ICS (Internet connection sharing), even the pro version that is supposed to allow ICS blocks it. [/color]

It does allow it. You have to manually enable it. Firewall>>Advanced. Turn on the ICS options. Simple.

Originally posted by Mongoose
Out of curiosity, what exactly does ICS do?  I've never experienced anything being blocked by ZoneAlarm, at least not to my knowledge, so I'm guessing I've never tried to make use of it.

Internet Connection Sharing. You connect your PC to the net by dial-up or broadband and then using a different Network Card you share the connection with the rest of the network by geting your PC to act as a mini NAT server.

Not worth it unless you've got DialUp really though. You can buy a cheap router for pretty much the same price (maybe £10-20 more) as what the extra NIC is going to cost you and then you can actually turn off the ICS computer without killing your net connection.

[Admiral LSD]

I'm just running the firewall built into XP SP2. It's simple, gets the job done and, because it's bundled with the Service Pack/OS, it's basically free.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by karajorma


It does allow it. You have to manually enable it. Firewall>>Advanced. Turn on the ICS options. Simple.

[color=66ff00]I stand corrected. I tried googling for a fix ages ago but found a great deal of "pro has problems with ICS" and gave up. Even the manual is not forthcoming. Much obliged for the info.
[/color]

Internet Connection Sharing. You connect your PC to the net by dial-up or broadband and then using a different Network Card you share the connection with the rest of the network by geting your PC to act as a mini NAT server.

Not worth it unless you've got DialUp really though. You can buy a cheap router for pretty much the same price (maybe £10-20 more) as what the extra NIC is going to cost you and then you can actually turn off the ICS computer without killing your net connection. [/B]

[color=66ff00]Err a NIC costs £3-£4, the cheapest router I've seen was about £30. Where are you buying them from? I could do with a cheap router.
[/color]

[Grey Wolf]

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=18931

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Err a NIC costs £3-£4, the cheapest router I've seen was about £30. Where are you buying them from? I could do with a cheap router.
[/color]

I think it's more a case of paying too much for NICs rather than getting a bargin on routers

[Nix]

GW, that's a switch, not a router.  Unless I'm missing the point of your post.  

I've demoed Outpost's firewall, and it seems to be pretty good, if not as good as Sygate.  Doesnt have the nice pretty graphs that Sygate's does, but it has one way cool feature.  Plugins.  The anti-spam plugin is pretty nice, specially on my dialup connection. It will block images of certain sizes, replacing them with a text placeholder.  It alerts me whenever anything changes to the program, or if anything is added or removed from it that's trying to make a connection on the network.  I havent tried it with a LAN connection yet, but for Dialup, it's pretty nice!  I think I've found a worthy successor to Sygate.  I still have 27 days left though so we'll see how she performs.