Free Firewall that Needs Least User Involvement

I am looking for suggestions for a simple, easy to use free firewall.

I told my sister I would fix her new laptop to match the recommendations in the sticky "How to Protect yourself from malware!" It came with trial Norton, which she hated and has let expire (of course, she asked me for recommendations for replacement AV and FW after she let it expire).

She has used Antivir as AV before and will be happy with it I think. I told her I am using Comodo firewall, but I know she will want something that does not make her answer its questions. Of all the free firewalls, which would be best for a user who does not want to have to think about what the firewall is doing?

I told her I'd burn a CD with Antivir and a firewall and bring that with me. I guess I'll put the Norton removal tool on there too, since I've had to use it in the past to get rid of Norton.

 

Wow. that was a quick reply.

On my computers I installed Comodo Internet Security firewall but not the antivirus. So I do have the defense part of it. I have it on two computers and I have gotten used to it, so I am satisfied.

I did not think the antivirus part of CIS was as good as the firewall. I have Avast on one computer and Antivir on the other for that reason.

She likes Antivir so I think that is what I will use. I'll think about your suggestion to just give her basic Comodo firewall. I hadn't thought of that possibility. Thanks.

 

to bbpathd1
In my opinion, you are correct about Comodo's AV. Not up to par with their firewall.
I would install the firewall alone then go with Avira AntiVir.

 

Hi Plodr,

It will be several days before I know what kind of Gateway laptop my sister bought. She put it away several months ago and told me she could not tell me any of the specs other than "Intel." She did not know what processor or what version of Vista she has. So it will have to wait until next Monday or Tuesday when I get to her house and actually look at it.

So now you know why she needs a simple to use firewall. She just wants to turn it on and use it, she said.

 

PC Tools Firewall is hard to beat for least user involvement. It's a small download, and perhaps the leanest firewall I've observed. I use it in conjunction with PC Tools AV and between them they only run three 023 Windows NT services. The firewall alone runs with just two processes in Task Manager.

 

My sister has a Pentium Dual CPU T3400 @2.16 GHz laptop with 3 GB RAM. She has Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit. She has wireless AT&T DSL xTreme 6.0.

For now, I have left her with just Windows firewall as Plodr suggested. Put AntiVir and the rest of the How to Protect yourself from Malware! sticky.

She works from home on a company-owned Dell Optiplex 755. It has Windows firewall enabled and has a VPN.

I looked at the AT&T Feature Guide but it doesn't tell me much. Device is Wire 2701 Gateway. Does anyone know if it has a hardware firewall in it?

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on a firewall for her laptop. Does the above information make a difference?

 

Thank you Plodr, for finding this information for me. I thought there might be a hardware firewall to help protect that work computer. All I had was a smudged hand-written paper left by the woman who installed my sister’s work computer that said it was Wire 2701 Gateway.

I agree that is always good to have a copy of the manual! I sent my sister the link for the manual. I think she should be in good shape now.