good free firewall for dummies :)?

[ncage]

LOL hi everyone im building a computer for my brother/sister-in-law and well they aren't very computer literate. Id install zonealarm on thier system but it would ask them a bunch of questions they wouldn't understand when a program was trying to access the internet. I almost just want a fireall the blocks incomming traffic and doesn't mess with outgoing. Also, id like something that is password proctected so a virus writer couldn't shut it down without knowing the password. Anyways the have had major trouble with virus and such. Oh btw, i do have SP2 on xp but im afraid that someone writing a virus will be able to shut down the service. I sure don't want that happening.

I also deleted all the shortcuts to IE and outlook express and installed firefox/thunderbird...they won't know its there if they don't have shortcuts ..anyways what woudl you guys recommend?

 

[abaez]

they should be fine without having IE installed.. i have the same thing with my parents except opera is installed.. as long as IE isn't there they haven't (amazingly) installed any spyware or virus'

 

[ncage]

ahh but there have been a lot of trojans lately that don't need ie...

 

[Yossarian]

sygate. btw I would like to beat you for starting a post with "LOL". happy holidays.

 

[globalcitizen]

Originally posted by: Yossarian
sygate. btw I would like to beat you for starting a post with "LOL". happy holidays.

I also recommend Sygate but also Zonealarm, whichever interface you find easier to use.

 

[beyonddc]

I personally like Sgyate Firewall more.

 

[duragezic]

I recommend Sygate also. It still asks you if you want to allow access to the program, so do that for the most common programs they will be using like their browser, email client, ICQ, etc.. and tell them to click no for everything else unless they KNOW what they are running.

As for Firefox stopping viruses...??? If you're worried about viruses then you need a good, updated AV program with auto-protect enabled. Having a firewall won't stop viruses, though it could stop hacks and programs trying to phone home.

 

[ntrights]

Enable xp sp2 built in firewall for them then! Its not all that bad imo. filtering options on outgoing connections are lacking to say the least , incoming filtering is pretty solid! All in all as a basic desktop firewall its pretty ok.