What firewall do you use?

Hi Guys,

In the last week I have had a major headache, installing and uninstalling Windows XP firewalls, I`ve tryed 6 so far, and to be honest I am still not happy with them, most I`ve tryed have ofcourse been the free versions, but as I am finding out, it isn't like a free anti-virus product, but I am currently using Comondo, so it looks like I`ll be sticking with it unless I can find a better, less resource hungry, easy learning, firewall out there.

So what firewall do you personally use, or prefer? I have listed the well-ish known top 7, with the 8th being other, so if thats the case, please reply and let us know the name of the firewall program that isn't listed.

 

Zone Alarm Free does it all for me, a lot of people on here would agree on that.

 

ZA Free here too.

 

i was using norton firewall & AV & found my pc had slowed down to a crawl. after reading posts on here i uninstalled them & started using zone alarm & AVG free. HEY PRESTO!!!!!. my pc is back up to speed.

 

Agnitum Outpost firewall pro.....not running a hardware f/w

 

I've had great experiences with Sygate, but am currently a Commodo man.

Works great, doesn't slow things down, and is smart enough to pick up unusual connection attempts. I had it cause problems only once, with it blocking my antivirus updater despite the fact the updater was on the "allow" list, but just uninstalling and reinstalling the program fixed everything. Overall, I'm thrilled with it, and find it much better than my experiances with Zonealarm.

 

ZA Pro; (v6.5.722) Very happy user.

 

It's Commodo for me, but have had great experience with ZA in the past. Haven't tried any others.

 

ZoneAlarm Pro Rev: 3.7.143 -- this works too well to upgrade. Never had a conflict, never caused a crash from Win98SE through Win2K and now WinXP. I've only had to make one adjustment to the installation on Win2K/WinXP. I don't auto-execute the GUI from the registry, instead I run it from a shortcut in the "Startup" folder.

 

same here.

 

Sorry matt.chugg. I should have been more precise. I run a link to the ZAPro.exe ( the graphical part of ZoneAlarm) out of the Windows Startup menu, however the actual firewall, encapsulated in the launcher VSMon.exe and vsmonapi.dll etc, is recognized by Win2K and WinXP as being a legacy program that needs to be launched as a service. So the firewall gets started just after the hardware has been enumerated but just before any connections are established or before I get to the Login screen. It was a good question though.

 

Zone Alarm all the way.

 

uhh yeah, I have a firewalled router that I've probed millions of times for open ports and have found none, so I don't waste computer resouces on one...

 

Dreamer: and what about things that phone home and download malicious code to execute on your computer ?

 

I'm a very safe surfer, I upgrade my plugins all the time so the latests security fixes are in place, I don't click on flash adds, I don't read spam emails, I don't use IE, and I don't download things that I don't know what they are. Haven't had one problem.

 

Good lol, but it is advisable to run a software firewall that can be configured to prevent internet access for specific processes and to specific sources.

Safe surfing is fine but I have seen infections occur from sites that were thought to be safe as they had been hacked. Even if you are the safest surfer in the world a software firewall is a good idea just on the off chance you get hit with a drive-by install.

Remember: Not all malware comes from browsing

 

yes I know, but unless I downgrade to windows 2000 a firewall would kill my system resources, I have a very old computer, luckily I've done some things to speed it up and improve system performance. I'm not computer illeterate (hell call my a hypocrite because I tell others to get firewalls), and if I did have a better computer I would have a software firewall on it but for right now I think I'm fine.

 

Thats fine lol, Im just pointing out to other people that read the thread that its not reccomended running a personal computer without a software firewall unless you are really strict with what you do. Im sure you know what you're doing lol.

 

Oh I understand that completely, I pretty much do the same thing ...

 

I voted 'Other' since I use Zone Alarm Security Suite.
Yes, it costs $$$$, but it has all the other protection I want and need so I consider it well worth it.

 

I use Kaspersky's Anti hacker it has served me well and on testing at (Shieldsup.com) it came through with flying color's. been using it for 4 years now it is working fine for me.

 

ZoneAlarm Pro version 4.5.594

 

I use the FIREWALL from Norton Internet Security.

But the AV in that package was terrible so I disabled it and use AVG.

 

Sygate personal firewall.