Good firewall/protection

[Randum]

Not fan of my work network, or computers hooked up to it..i want to be a ghost and protected at the same time...any recommendations....

UPDATE: I am a PM at this company and use my own machine. Since we are a small shop, and for some reason no one wants to spend on security so we are using some standard DLink routers designed for home use.

SO no I'm not trying to be sneaky and hook up my own machine without anyone knowing..

 

[MrChad]

Connecting an unauthorized machine to your company's network without their authorization is a good way to lose your job.

 

[stash]

Yep, talk to the IT folks before you do that.

Otherwise, the Windows firewall is fine.

 

[Randum]

im a pm at a software development company. we do not have a very secure network. and we use retail house routers/switches....

i use my own machine for work

 

[stash]

One reason for an insecure network could be from allowing anyone to connect any computer to it.

Just sayin

 

[Randum]

Originally posted by: stash
One reason for an insecure network could be from allowing anyone to connect any computer to it.

Just sayin

ok, thats the reason for it. Im just asking out of personal interest whether anyone swears by some great FW detection software over another. Just asking....sheez....
i understand why the network is the way it is...

 

[Lemon law]

Your companies router will provide some security. But a software firewall on your computer is also recommended. Two of the better freeware software firewalls are comodo personal firewall ver 3 and online armor free. But two things are worth noting, your choice of firewalls may depend on your OS and you may have to do some configuring of both their network and your firewall to get everything configured seamlessly. And since you will be exposed to other insecure machines, you may wish to really limit what you share.

CPF3 is more the geek's firewall with a steeper learning curve, but it should offer the configuration options you need.

 

[Randum]

thanks lemon, thats exactly what I was looking for!

i rem back in school we used one- and we could see when this one kid attempted to hit us with Sub7....definitely went upstairs to his room to pay a visit!

 

[antyler]

I use ZoneAlarm firewall. Im not sure how popular it is, but I have used it for a long time now, and im pleased with it.

 

[Lemon law]

The problem with citing zone alarm is that there are many versions over the years. But many of the criticisms directed at recent versions of zone alarm does not concern effectiveness. But rather the charge is that its bloatware that takes too much systems resources and memory to run. With other firewalls having equal or better protection but using a small fraction of the system resources zone alarm does. A criteria particularly important if you have an older computer or are a extreme gamer type where high performance is required to play some of the cutting edge games.

But in terms of effectiveness, here is one link to rate effectiveness. Its now many months old and does not cover the recently released comodo version 3.

http://www.matousec.com/projec....php#firewalls-ratings

 

[Oakenfold]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
The problem with citing zone alarm is that there are many versions over the years. But many of the criticisms directed at recent versions of zone alarm does not concern effectiveness. But rather the charge is that its bloatware that takes too much systems resources and memory to run. With other firewalls having equal or better protection but using a small fraction of the system resources zone alarm does. A criteria particularly important if you have an older computer or are a extreme gamer type where high performance is required to play some of the
cutting edge games.

I agree that there have been problems with the ZA over the past couple years but I have not personally experienced performance issues from it. Firefox (just throwing an example out there) on the other hand is getting out of control..

 

[Lemon law]

To Oakenfold who notes---I agree that there have been problems with the ZA over the past couple years but I have not personally experienced performance issues from it. Firefox (just throwing an example out there) on the other hand is getting out of control..

Raw performance may not always be the issue. Because a "bloatware" piece of software can greatly add to boot time or require significant chunks of system ram memory compared to other similar applications. But once booted, the other issue becomes background cpu cycles required. On some computer systems, the mere memory loss may be difference between playing a game at near full speed and not being able to keep up with demand. It just depends on where the individual computer systems bottlenecks are.

 

[nordloewelabs]

what's lighter on system resources? ZoneAlarm or the free Comodo?
just curious because i have a Tablet-PC with a low-RPM hd and a 900Mhz Celeron....

 

[Lemon law]

From what I can read, zone alarm has roughly three times the footprint size of comodo in terms of memory required to run. But what is the OS on your tablet PC? And are you thinking of using the free or paid version of ZA. And which version of ZA or comodo?

 

[nordloewelabs]

i'm only interested in versions that are bug-free, which, in the case of Firewalls, tend to be the latest versions. i also want to stick to free apps! i'm typing from my Win2K box now, and the 2 ZoneAlarm Free processes, together, take 25Mb of RAM.

my tablet runs WinXP Tablet Edition. i upgraded the device from 256 (ugh!) to 1.25Gb RAM the other day. made great diff, but i have always wondered if i could get a lighter (and good) replacement to ZA. i do like outbound protection.

Edit: i dont know how much CPU ZoneAlarm consumes....i have never tracked that. is Free Comodo easier on the CPU too?

 

[Wigwam]

I just used ZAPro 7 - it is VERY slow on my new machine which has a Q6600 and 4gb ram; version 5.5 was the best IMO
I now need another firewall and anti-spyware solution. Might try commodo 3 and sas but that doesn't give me real time spyware protection IIRC

 

[Lemon law]

Originally posted by: nordloewelabs
i'm only interested in versions that are bug-free, which, in the case of Firewalls, tend to be the latest versions. i also want to stick to free apps! i'm typing from my Win2K box now, and the 2 ZoneAlarm Free processes, together, take 25Mb of RAM.

my tablet runs WinXP Tablet Edition. i upgraded the device from 256 (ugh!) to 1.25Gb RAM the other day. made great diff, but i have always wondered if i could get a lighter (and good) replacement to ZA. i do like outbound protection.

Edit: i dont know how much CPU ZoneAlarm consumes....i have never tracked that. is Free Comodo easier on the CPU too?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, ZA free is a terrible firewall in terms of protection. The zone alarm paid is a fairly highly rated firewall in terms of protection. And while it takes a lot of PC resources to boot ZA paid, once its running its not to bad in terms of using cpu cycles. And ZA has some sort of gamer mode also. For a full discussion of various fire walls issues, google wilders security forums.

But I think you should also consider the free version of online armor which is more secure than the paid version of ZA. Its really far easier to configure and its about on a par with comodo in consuming system resources. I have tried online armor free, CPF3, and used to use comodo 2.4. I have decided to opt for CPF3 but my choices need not be your choices.
And with 768 MB of ram or better and faster processors than you have on my computers, what does not effect me may impact you differently.

On line armor and comodo both have user forums for any help issues. And both firewalls now have most of the bugs worked out now. But Comodo 3 had a large number of bugs when first released in late November/07. Other than getting ICS working which was impossible in the first version of CPF3, I never had any bug issues with either firewall. And both CPF3 and online armor almost self configure due to white lists and HIPS.

But in terms of firewalls that are excellent and free, right now, the list is short IMHO. Its CPF2.4, CPF3, and online armor.

I will also leave the following link that hopefully works this time. It came out too early to include CPF3.

http://www.matousec.com/projec....php#firewalls-ratings

 

[nordloewelabs]

Originally posted by: Lemon law

I will also leave the following link that hopefully works this time. It came out too early to include CPF3.

http://www.matousec.com/projec....php#firewalls-ratings

i think you meant this link.

btw, CPF3 = the free Comodo 3, right?

 

[Wigwam]

yep I just clarified this. there is no paid for comodo

 

[Lemon law]

Wigwam is correct, the comodo firewalls are all free. Comodo does however try to sell a product called bo-clean that I have not tried. And online armor hopes you upgrade to its paid firewall.