Free Firewalls: Which one is your favourite...

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Originally Posted by arch0nmyc0n

True. First off, with software there's user intervention until it learns. It's an annoyance to a lot of people. Second, you consider that "hackers" out there can easily obtain a copy of the software and figure out ways around them or what not, I'm not a hacker so I don't know if and or how they do it. Third, it's another one of a zillion programs running in the sys tray slowing the pentium 166 down. Fourth, it's attempting to "lock the door" to your computer and seeing as a hacker likes challenges I would assume it'd be a "please hack me" beacon. Then again I don't hack so I don't know. But I do know once I got rid of the firewall I was testing I stopped getting port scanned...

BTW I don't have any firewall at all :P I'm getting a router soon, any suggestions? I need one with DMZ capability.

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Going back to your first post here:

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...once I got rid of the firewall I was testing I stopped getting port scanned...

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Well: that's like saying that once you removed your front door, people stopped knocking!!!???? Come on now. Concerning your first point, if you put ZA in Program/Learning Mode you will eliminate most of the prompts. But, the prompts are necessary. Do you want so and so program accessing the internet or not??? Sounds reasonable to me.
PS
Don't have ANY firewall??? Shame on you!!!

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Originally Posted by arch0nmyc0n

So you're a feature junkie?

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I'm gonna get this through to you if it kills me ! :D

Hardware firewalls can't be used to control outbound communications - software ones can !

That's why Gary 'rubbished' black Ice even though its 'inbound' firewall is 'goodish' ;)

Yeah the 'training' aspect is a bit of a pain ... but you get 'wise' & can create the appropriate rules in about 5 minutes ;) - you want some sort of firewall if you have an always on connection - maybe on dial up you can 'do without' (a firewall) but you still want a trojan checker/blocker -& the best thing for that is probably a s/w firewall ...

Any business that is dependant on just hardware blocking of 'ins' is asking for trojans to get out sooner or later - when AV products develop into full 'malware' removal tools & can get & block trojans all the time then I'll give up with software firewalls ;)

Software firewalls are good things - maybe not as efficient as hardware at stopping ins (though probably as effective if not more sometimes - just when was the last time you updated your routers firmware & therefore its detection abilities ? Software autoupdates generally)..

The threads not about all this !:p Which is the best 'free' firewall !?!?!

(there are software firewalls way better than the free ones ;), better than most boxes ... but I digress & will no doubt now cause another steam of protest from the 'hardware is best' camp ...:))

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Originally Posted by confus-ed

Dudes ... please stop telling me about hardware ( I know if you pay enough you can have as good & 'flexible' as any software solution & more 'efficient' too) - but I'm looking for cost effective for say just two pc's - no hardware box with the right features qualifies - unless you start naming some that are less than $100 !!!

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You can get linksys routers for under $100 CAD, that's 60 quibs to you, but i digress. When i was running a software firewall, i used programs i obtained from my action pack subscription. Mainly Internet Security and Acceleration server, I had it fined tuned to the point where it would ignore "background noise" of the internet, yet e-mail me of someone took a serious wack at my box. Before that, I was on dial-up with 95/98 and had not need for a firewall back then, in those days, the worse you could expect was winnuke.

I've since moved on to a hardware firewall, linksys home gateway to be exact, they only thing i dislike about it, is it's habit of dropping the connection (not sure if that's the router or my ISP) and it's lack of serious logging abilities.

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Originally Posted by confus-ed

I'm gonna get this through to you if it kills me ! :D

Hardware firewalls can't be used to control outbound communications - software ones can !

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I was doing some work on a doctor's PC this week, just basically making sure he can access a section of our webpage and I had to reboot it. When it started loading the desktop Zone Alarm comes up and says, "Do you want to let msblast.exe to access the internet?"

guess who didn't update their Norton Antivirus 2002 subscription *ever*?

gotta love that Zone Alarm. :thumbs:

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Originally Posted by Matridom

I've since moved on to a hardware firewall, linksys home gateway to be exact, they only thing i dislike about it, is it's habit of dropping the connection (not sure if that's the router or my ISP) and it's lack of serious logging abilities.

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you can get it to send the log to a computer running their logviewer program It's not the best, but still a good little program.

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Originally Posted by craigmodius

you can get it to send the log to a computer running their logviewer program It's not the best, but still a good little program.

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thanx, i'll look into that.

As far as dropped connections go on DSL using pppoe, I find that on the pppoe settings tab, selecting "Connect on Demand: Max idle time 0 min" works better then keep alive. (kinda fuzzy logic i guess) Unless you're blocking pings and your ISP requires it

Buuuuuut if you're using cable then DHCP should be working fine out of the box. Unless you're blocking pings and your ISP requires it.

I dunno... ZA has just caused me so many headaches in the past I'm just prone to toss it in the fire and move on... I haven't tried it lately so I don't know but does it do automatic rule making like Norton's Firewall does? Cause I found that a nice little feature of Norton... and believe me I dislike Norton on the whole...

you can configure it in expert mode and in novice mode. meaning you can either specify things up front that you want to give access to or just run the program and say "Yes allow outgoing access and don't bug me about this program again" also you can flat out turn off incoming notices so you won't be bugged about them.

I know what you're saying about the HW firewalls being less hassle, but for me with all the spyware and worms and viruses going around, I think ZA is nice you should give it a try

Some of this debate is all Coke vs. Pepsi or Ford vs. Chevy, but it's good to get a view from both sides.

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Originally Posted by craigmodius

As far as dropped connections go on DSL using pppoe, I find that on the pppoe settings tab, selecting "Connect on Demand: Max idle time 0 min" works better then keep alive. (kinda fuzzy logic i guess) Unless you're blocking pings and your ISP requires it

Buuuuuut if you're using cable then DHCP should be working fine out of the box. Unless you're blocking pings and your ISP requires it.

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max idle *IS* set to 0, also the drop occures when there is activity on the line. I get enough traffic that i don't fear an idle drop.

I tried various firewalls a few months back and I didn't like them. I probably am just predisposed to hate them, but if I have to use one I'm gonna use Norton's just for the fact it's not as dumb at first. Free is nice, but this time I'll go paid over saving a few bucks.