is there such thing as a free, simple software firewall?

[tokamak]

i have dsl and have never used a firewall (swbell claims to monitor their network carefully, ha!). although i'm not really worried about security (theres nothing but games and mp3s on my computer), i'm kinda curious about the traffic that goes in and out...

 

[minendo]

ZoneAlarm by ZoneLabs.

 

[NicColt]

>(swbell claims to monitor their network carefully, ha!).

by monitor they probably mean that they cut off certain ports (I don't remember which) but it helps in protecting you in case of internal hacking.

I'm quite sure they have better things todo than to sniff what goes in and out of your bandwidth.

As for the free software, it may be free but simple, effective and trustworthy are what is questionable. It just depends in which camp you sit and which you trust.

 

[Bglad]

Sygate

 

[BKR]

I found zone alarm good, but it seemed to hog quite a bit of resources so I switched to tiny personal firewall.

You can get it here:

Tiny Personal Firewall

 

[Mitzi]

ZoneAlarm by ZoneLabs.

Yeah another vote for ZoneAlarm, version 3 is very easy to get setup.

 

[Dan]

During the past 3 years of having broadband (DSL the first year, cable ever since) I've tried BlackIce, Zone Alarm, Sygate and Tiny Personal Firewall. I liked Zone Alarm but like BKR I recently switched to TPF. It works.

 

[TheWart]

another vote for teh very awesome Tiny Personal Firewall.