What Is A Good Firewall?

Hi, ALL,
For a long time I was a successful user of ZoneAlarm Free Edition.
However, this software lacks one important feature - an ability to open port on the machine.

I recently installed MS SQL Server Express 2012, and wanted to be able to connect to it remotely. And the only way apparently is to kill ZA completely.

So in light of this - is there a good, well tested free firewall that will allow to open different ports?

Thank you.

 

What exact Operating System do you have?

 

Hi,
I have Windows 8.1 64-bit.

Thank you.

 

The first thing is you should be able to do what you want with the pretty good inbuilt FW in Windows 8:
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/block-open-port-windows-8-firewall
Alternatively, Comodo Firewall free is probably the single most highly reviewed third party FW:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/comodo_personal_firewall.html
It has a detailed user guide on port setting:
https://help.comodo.com/topic-72-1-451-4776-.html

 

MaxTurner,
I installed Comodo from the Author's WebSite link download on MG.
It dd install fine and then I un-installed Geeks Add-On.

However , trying to follow the link on how to set up the port access, I have a completely diferent screenshot than on the link.

Am I missing some kind of add-on?

 

When installing any program that includes add on offers, it is best to choose CUSTOM install, and uncheck anything you don't want.
You need to read the User Guide on how to configure it.