Test your Firewalls

What is the best firewall? Results

http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php

http://www.testmypcsecurity.com/view_results_xp.html

 

My only issue with Leak Tests is that its only useful if your initial secureity measures failed, and your security compromised.

IMHO, your secureity wasn't all that hot if it made it onto your hard disk in the first place. Your first line of defense should always be your best. Once again, my opinion.

 

roflmao It was probably my fault in trying to remove Comodo. It rates as one of the best so I may have to give it another try, in the future. Bazza

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Remember the trouble you had removing it bazza
Do you realy want to go through that againLOL

 

I was going to install Comodo when I got home this afternoon but when I read the post on the uninstall I think I will give it a miss that is even after reading How to uninstall Comodo on their forum
http://forums.comodo.com/help_for_v2/how_to_uninstall_comodo_firewall-t1184.0.html;topicseen

 

I think I selected the wrong option when installing and the "Are you sure" type prompts eventually drove me mad. I didn't think it remembered my answers and continued to ask. Then I tried to delete Comodo, bad move. :-D :cry

I wouldn't have minded Comodo if it had an uninstall built-in and I could just have then re-installed with the lesser reporting option.

Bazza

PS: Thanks chaimjm, and others. Now I don't feel so bad. :-D

Baz

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First I had Comodo FW v2, removed it without problems. Yeah, I ran CCleaner afterwards. Didn't realize at that time that I was very lucky. So then I installed v3. Just like Bazza, the prompting drove me NUTS!! I disabled the Defense+ which comes with v3 and since then the Comodo Firewall is not bothering me anymore. Installed BOClean.

When reading the problems re Comodo I'm scared now to uninstall it now or in the future unless there would be an easy tool to uninstall it completely. In case something went wrong, I don't even understand the methods to manually uninstall. The trouble with removing the firewall doesn't bode well for Comodo. Seems when using Comodo, you're "hooked" forever, unless you're a major geek!

 

We use a router, does that mean they have built in protection? or just certain ones? OR should I go to the Help & Technical Forums ?

 

If it is a NAT router you should be okay

A hardware router firewall is far more effective than a software firewall at just blocking unsolicited connections. A software firewall works more at the application level and, for example, will warn you if a certain application is trying to access the net.

I use my router, Windows Fire wall and PeerGuardian

Interesting and I feel important article on Home router passwords

http://www.securitysoftwarezone.com/best-home-router-password-protection-webattack-review242-1.html

 

I too, only use windows firewall and an router....for kicks and giggles, i used comodo for a week or so and went straight through the modem w/out the router, and was getting all kinds of random stuff (including Dept. of Defense) and then i went back through the router with comodo still installed and i had nothing after that, so i just uninstalled comodo (without any problems)

 

Router, Windows firewall, and openDNS properly setup will go far to make you secure with minimal resource usage.

 

Is a router required if one has only one computer? Have been thinking about getting one for a while but don't know which one to choose from. They're all designed for multiple computers and how would one protect the other remaining ports/outlets? :confused Then there are the wired and wireless ones. Perhaps I should post about these questions in the hardware section?

Do routers just block the incoming traffic as LauraR says?

 

I have a router and use PCTools firewall for outgoing just in case something does get in and wants to phone home. I do all my banking and most purchasing on the net so I tend to be a bit more paranoid. I'll give up some resources in trade for peace of mind.

 

Actually, I was thinking more in the terms of security by using a router for the one computer I have. Does having a NAT? router offer more security in my case than a software two-way firewall?

 

NAT does help, but I would get one that also has an SPI firewall.

 

A router with SPI ( Stateful Packet Inspection ) goes a long way in the fight against the arrival of unsolicited connections. They are efficient, which in computer terms means fast, and no software-only firewalls are currently as reliable. However, most of the ones I've seen lack an important aspect of the firewall; namely, applications on the computer can still access the outside world through the router, and the router will be fine with this.

So, you still need something that will filter out apps and services that are not on your 'safe list'. For this, most of us use a personal firewall. Businesses and large corporations can afford to run "proxy servers" for this type of filtering. Routers with proxy services built in, coupled with Stateful Packet Inspection, would be my idea of an ideal firewall.

For those contemplating purchasing an SPI router, keep in mind that the majority of brands cannot yet cope with TCP variable window scaling. Typically they can handle packets up to 64000 bytes, but the variable TCP window may be as large as a gigabyte. Windows Vista and Linux 2.6.8 kernels and up, have TCP window scaling enabled by default. This typically messes up the SPI router and forces continuous resets. However, to make it compatible you simply disable the TCP autotuninglevel, as in this CMD command:
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disable

 

I've had two SPI routers and never had a reset. I've been using Linux since the 2.4 kernel, and Vista since beta 2.