92 replies to this topic

[forest_law_ph]

i went to pcflank.com to test zone-alarm firewall. in the browser test, i failed on the referrer check -> "While visiting web sites your browser reveals private information (called 'referrer') about previous sites you have visited." i'm using opera 7.54 and zone-alarm 5.1.011.000

[~Ayeka~]

I first tried Zone Alarm free. It was great, until I read around the forums and noticed that everyone has their own personal favorite and decided to try them out. I tried Sygate and Kerio, and I ended up sticking with Kerio!

Edited by ~Ayeka~, 22 August 2004 - 04:21 AM.

[ozcompute]

For me its Tiny Personal Firewall.
A little hard to configure but has a great activity monitor which lets you immediatly check and see whats going on.

[Tuxedo Jack]

After a recent format and install of Win2K Server on my gaming box, I decided to give Kerio a go on it.

I noticed that it noticeably slowed down my connections to that machine from my laptop and other machines in the house, but that's to be expected.

What drove me mad was that it went nuts every time I played Warcraft III or Counter-Strike - literally alert after alert after alert even after I told it to permanently allow it access to the Internet.

Right now, said box has ZoneAlarm 2 on it again.

[canoeingkidd]

Just downloaded Kerio 2.15 the other day.

I really like it so far...

[decay]

outpost or kerio 2.1.5

[GoonMan]

outpost or kerio 2.1.5

Hello decay,

You can trial both FireWalls but only one installed on your system at a time and see what works best for you and your system.

What works for me and my computer set up may not work for you and your set up.

Most FireWalls let you trial them for 15 to 30 days before you buy them.

[LJM Master]

I think Sygate should definately be credited, after all, it does somethin' that most firewalls can', it detects Trojans, Spyware, Worms and other known threats, where as most of these firewalls just protect you from hackers....Sygate does both, that's why I credit it....for it's excellence indetectin' other known threats, not just hacker attacks......

http://soho.sygate.c...pf_standard.htm

See for yourself, if u have't already done so...

regards,
LJM

[LJM Master]

I think Sygate should definately be credited, after all, it does somethin' that most firewalls can', it detects Trojans, Spyware, Worms and other known threats, where as most of these firewalls just protect you from hackers....Sygate does both, that's why I credit it....for it's excellence indetectin' other known threats, not just hacker attacks......

http://soho.sygate.c...pf_standard.htm

See for yourself, if u have't already done so...

regards,
LJM

[LJM Master]

OH, I ACCIDENTLY POSTED EXACTLY THE SAME THING TWICE......FOR THAT, I APOLOGISE!!!

so anybody with the power to do so, please remove 1 of the 2 identical posts...if possible...thanks

regards,
LJM

P.S: Kerio is at version 4 now, so I fail to understand why people prefer, the rather old version 2.1.5, can sum fill me in on that??

Edited by LJM Master, 03 September 2004 - 03:54 AM.

[decay]

i think (personally) that the recent version of kerio are rather bloated with extra features and hog a LOT of system resources.

having said that, so does outpost :\

[jedi]

Zone Alarm 5.1.011.000.
It's free, and easy to use, and it works.

[Bobbi Flekman]

These days I use Kerio, as a secondary firewall to the built-in firewall in the ADSL router. I use the router to keep stuff in general out, for instance relaying, and Kerio acts more or less like a monitor on what is happening on my PC. WHo wants out and why, or in!

[DarkLink]

Sygate is best IMO.

[balg]

Im using Sygate... im quite pleased with it... it suites my needs and its free

[AntiSpam]

I use ZoneAlarm but would recommend McAfee Personal Firewall Plus.Does anyone know which firewall protects your computer best without reducing much of your internet connection speed?

[Hydroponic Garden]

I use Zone Alarm Pro 5.1.011.000.... heh, probably didn't need to give the version, but what the heck. Anyway, works flawless for me.... so far.


-Hydroponic Garden

[Cunjo]

I used to run Zone Alarm pro, however the TruVector internet monitor was causing stability problems with the rest of my system so I had to remove it. I am currently running a trial version or Kerio and am quite pleased with it -- I do not however think that it allows the user as strict of control over the firewall or programs as ZA.

I guess the real issue is money; I can't afford to buy it, and ZA isn't an option right now. In another month I may be depending entirely on my router (which I don't want to do, as the inbound security is lax and hard to control, and the outbound is virtually nonexistant)

I need a FREE firewall with advanced rules such as opening for specific programs and ports. any suggestions?

[Bobbi Flekman]

...I am currently running a trial version or Kerio and am quite pleased with it -- I do not however think that it allows the user as strict of control over the firewall or programs as ZA.

....
I need a FREE firewall with advanced rules such as opening for specific programs and ports. any suggestions?

Kerio has advanced rules. Look at 'Network security' and then 'Packet filter...'

[Charlesvar]

I need a FREE firewall with advanced rules such as opening for specific programs and ports. any suggestions?

The free version of Sygate has advanced rule making.

Regards - Charles

Edited by Charlesvar, 26 September 2004 - 06:58 AM.

[hellfried]

first off i have to say that i am not very savvy when it comes to firewalls and i have just made the jump from dialup to dsl. having done my homework by reading forums on internet security i immediately downloaded the free version of zonealarm. i was quite happy with it but being a restless soul i then switched to sygate personal just to experiment (zonealarm was uninstalled first, of course). it made my pc a living hell!! my system kept hanging for no good reason. it even rebooted twice out of the blue!
initially i thought i had picked up a virus or trojan. i ran a full system scan with norton antivirus (updated virus definition) which turned up empty. i then ran spybot which turned up a dso exploit and something called 'alexa related'. i deleted the latter but kept the dso exploit as the last time i deleted it my internet explorer stopped working (i read in another forum that it is just a bug within spybot itself). i then used cwshredder which also turned up empty. finally i ran hijackthis and am waiting for someone to examine my log in the 'pc troubleshooting' forum here.
i have since uninstalled sygate and re-installed zonealarm. things seem to be back to normal at the moment. i left my pc online over the weekend (on emule most of the time) and nothing strange happened. is it right for me to blame sygate?

[Charlesvar]

i have since uninstalled sygate and re-installed zonealarm. things seem to be back to normal at the moment. i left my pc online over the weekend (on emule most of the time) and nothing strange happened. is it right for me to blame sygate?

Lots of possibilities here.

The most obvious is that Sygate and your system don't get along and hard to pin down why, if ZA works for you, and you're satisfied, then ok.

Other possibilies are ZA didn't get fully uninstalled and this created some conflict, or, if you're OS is XP and you didn't shut XP's firewall off, or, etc., etc.

The bottom line here is there are many variables and hard to pin it down.

Lots of posts saying much the same as you are with the Firewall brands involved changed: Firewall X worked and Firewall Y didn't work.

Regards - Charles

Edited by Charlesvar, 27 September 2004 - 08:37 AM.

[ubergeekee]

I use an ancient build of ZoneAlarm, but what I really like is my hardware firewall - I have a router sitting on my connection, and (luck willing) soon I'll have a surplused AIX box from my office as a firewall.

Is that a NAT router? I have one and I am still a bit confused on how to get the best protection from it. As for the proper config settings and all...I also want to use one of my old boxes for a hard firewall but when I google the setup, I get lost real fast. Any help/links would be most appreciated.

[sirkickabutt]

I use ZoneAlarm Security Suite and am extremly pleased with it! I love it because of the Antivirus, instant message secure and junk filtering (plus of course the great firewall!) I think its definitly the one for me, although I havent tried Kerio yet, do they still do updates for the old Kerio 2 version?

[Foxcub]

Have trialled Zone Alarm but much prefer Sygate,its suited to my style.

Foxcub

[Bjerrk]

Sygate is the one for me !

Regards Bjerrk

[Mr Bob]

What makes you guys think you need to use a firewall to begin with?

I have never used a firewall, and don't see one reason why I should. Am I just lucky? I dunno, but some input would be nice.

[Charlesvar]

What makes you guys think you need to use a firewall to begin with?

I have never used a firewall, and don't see one reason why I should. Am I just lucky? I dunno, but some input would be nice.

Don't take this wrong, but its really hard to have patience with people like you.

Why would you need one? One glaring example: remember the Sasser worm infestation? That worm infected millions of systems which in turn became "zombies" trying to infect others. Any halfass firewall would have stopped it. BUT, too many people think like you: "who needs a firewall".

This worm problem made such an impression on MS, that SP2 became primarily a security fix, and one of those fixes is an XP firewall that's on by default - MS didn't take security seriously up until the summer of '03 either.

Regards - Charles

[Mr Bob]

If you don't like a question I have, or can't bare talking to a newb, please just shut up and don't answer my questions.

I remember the Sasser worm, and I remember being fine without a firewall.

If I have no reason to use a firewall, I won't install one until that reason comes up. I am here for advice, I am a novice at this stuff, and expect to get some help from experts.

If SP2 comes with a Firewall, do I still need one?

I'm not going to install something unless I know what it will do for me. Saying "a firewall would have protected everyone from the sasser worm" is a pretty good example why someone should use one- the only problem though is that I was fine without it....

I don't think I am prone to being DoS attacked, but a firewall to stop things like the sasser worms would be my only reason to use one? Is that the only reason why I would get one?

[Charlesvar]

If you don't like a question I have, or can't bare talking to a newb, please just shut up and don't answer my questions.

Fair enough - this is a neuralgia point with me, I get scanned on a regular basis by infected computers.

If SP2 comes with a Firewall, do I still need one?

XP always had a firewall - called ICF pre SP2. Does a fine job at what it's supposed to do.


XP's firewall blocks inbound only which is the reason a lot of people don't like it. Most of the commercial 3rd party firewalls have the ability to deny outbound permission to processes on the system.

This is handy for basically two reasons - one, you don't want the app/process taking resources right then and gives you the ability to stop annoying app behavior, such as looking for updates, and two, it can be an indicator of malware on the system - you don't know what this process is. If you have confidence that you can control behavior in other ways, then a firewall like XP's should serve.

I personally want to have the ability to control app behavior and to do other functions such as blocking IP's and ports on an individual basis - this gets into more elaborate firewalls that have rule making abilities.

Regards - Charles

Edited by Charlesvar, 28 November 2004 - 09:13 PM.

[Mr Bob]

I personally want to have the ability to control app behavior and to do other functions such as blocking IP's and ports on an individual basis - this gets into more elaborate firewalls that have rule making abilities.
- Interesting point. I haven't really checked to see what software I have is connecting to some place without my knowledge.

What types of rules would someone have setup? And what programs support these rules?

As it seems like you are familiar with SP2, would you reccomend someone install it on a clean os install?

I hear about so many problems with SP2, mainly with its compatibility w/ AV, but it seems like every day someone will have another SP2 related problem.

[nl255]

There is no such thing as a hardware firewall. All those so called hardware firewalls are actually a computer running firewall software, usually a stripped down Linux or BSD system. Some of the more expensive firewalls have hardware (ASIC) acceleration for certain tasks like VPN, but all of them use software. If it was a true hardware firewall you would need to have new chips fabricated every time you wanted to change the configuration, and custom chip fabrication is extremely expensive often costing millions of dollars.

Edited by nl255, 29 November 2004 - 02:43 PM.

[Charlesvar]

Hi Mr Bob,

Let's talk about SP2 first.

As it seems like you are familiar with SP2, would you reccomend someone install it on a clean os install?

Sure, if it's feasable, always a better bet. I personally did not, but I run a clean system with no issues.

I hear about so many problems with SP2, mainly with its compatibility w/ AV, but it seems like every day someone will have another SP2 related problem.

The AV problem is a minor one. What it boiled down to was that some AV vendors didn't have patches to let SP2 know that there was an up to date AV running - a REPORTING issue. This did not mean that the unpatched AV wasn't functioning.

Yes, there are some that have problems with SP2 - as far as I can tell about 15 to 20 % of users.

At this site http://www.windowsbb...isplay.php?f=40 there is a forum on SP2 issues. Cruise the site and see what problems there are and some fixes.

On firewalls - a BIG subject, I'll continue later with that. In the meantime, take a look at Sygate's free firewall that does have advanced rule making capability. Sygate forum - the paticular board is Sygate Personal Firewall (not pro). You can look around at other parts of the site. They have a firewall test. It would be interesting to see what the results are for a system with no firewall running.

http://forums.sygate.com/vb/

And last but not least, could you supply some info on your system - the OS and how old.

Regards - Charles

Edited by Charlesvar, 29 November 2004 - 01:10 PM.

[Mr Bob]

Thanks for the information. I haven't upgraded to SP2 yet just because of what I heard, but when I go for a clean install of XP, I think now might be the time to upgrade to SP2.


ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe
Intel P4 478 3.0Ghz 800 FSB w/HT
Seagate 120GB Barracuda SATA Hard Drive
ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro 128 MB
NEC 8x DVD+RW/-RW Drive
Sony 48x DVD/CD+-RW Drive
PC3200 1GB (2x512MB) Dual-Channel Optimized 400 MHz - CAS 2.0
Raidmax Scorpio 868 ATX w/ 420W PSU
Sony 1.44 Internal Floppy
Intel Ambient v.92 56K Modem

I will be adding a WD 74GB Raptor + Fresh install of XP Pro (retail).

[Charlesvar]

I will be adding a WD 74GB Raptor + Fresh install of XP Pro (retail).

That XP Pro retail should have SP2 integrated into it - SP2 has been available since August.

Regards - Charles

[Mr Bob]

I also asked for the XP Pro cd w/ SP1 too though....

[Ad Infinitum]

Anyone knows the most resource light firewall around here?

I vote for Outpost since I use it myself after ZoneAlarm and Sygate gave me the blue screen of death.

I have three partitions on my hard drive.One for Windows XP Home Edition, Windows 98 SE and hp recovery and recently upgraded to the RAM to 512MB since Windows 98 SE don't like more RAM than that.

[cnm]

AVG uses about 13K of memory when resident.

[Paranoid]

AVG uses about 13K of memory when resident.

AVG has a firewall?

[Ad Infinitum]

AVG Pro does come bundled with the Kerio Personal Firewall if you buy the set...but it doesn't come with a firewall.

[tj416]

I use Zone Alarm and I really like it.