Looking for some advice (mostly on firewall)

[scott1256ca]

I recently started using Comodo CIS 3.10, but am considering alternatives.
My reasons are
1. CAV still needs improvement
2. I find the popups a little intrusive.
3. Trying to find a solution which I could recommend to my mother, who will most certainly not want to deal with popus

FYI, I could live with the popups, but when I do installs, I tend to do them in bursts because I am looking for alternative solutions to a problem, and after clicking allow several dozen times, I find myself becoming complacent, and I'm hoping to find something with good protection but less annoying.

At the moment, I'm looking at free solutions.

I read about geswall and wanted to try that out. From what I have read, this should still be supplemented with a firewall and AV correct? It isn't really a standalone product, or is it?

I was also thinking of trying the free version of Outpost firewall. Is that going to be less intrusive than Comodo, or just different?

If I were running geswall, would outpost be a good match? How about PrivateFirewall? Is there much overlap on what they provide? Or are they fully complementary? Would XP firewall be sufficient? Or some other firewall which blocked outbound connections, but didn't have the self defense mechanisms?

It looks to me like PrivateFirewall, Outpost, Comodo all include a fair amount of the anti-intrusion stuff, so I'm wondering if I used those, would geswall be bringing much more to the table?

Perhaps continue with Comodo Firewall, but disable Defense+ and CAV?

Also (my newbie question) is the anti-intrusion stuff included in these products generally just classified under HIPS (which I think stands for Host Intrusion Prevention System??)?

Also, even though I have reasonable horsepower, I'd prefer not to get anything which is too heavy on the resources.

I hope that isn't too many questions.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

edit: BTW, I would also be adding some on-access AV, but that is another issue for another thread

[twl845]

I switched from Comodo to Online Armor for the same reasons you are looking for a less intrusive FW. Check them out at www.tallemu.com .
Outpost is also a good no pop up FW.

[Escalader]

Hello:

There is a wealth of data here on firewalls. I only comment on products I actually use or have used recently.

As best as I can determine you want a FW for your mother not yourself that has no popups or very few and is free and has a HIPS component.

Two come to mind:

Outpost
OnLine Armor

BUT to get zero pop ups for either of these will require you to declare everything executable on her setup to be "safe". Is that what you really want to do?

Then as executables are added or new web sites are visited you expect the software to remain silent / no popups ?

I've never understood why zero popups are seen as good, in your car for example do drivers expect no warning lights or messages when oil is down to zero or car is overheated?

I'm not trying to be difficult but with FW's users need to learn to drive them. You can minimize pop ups but never zero them out!

On your other questions they are dealt with in the stickies at the top of this forum. Excellent reading and links.

Windows xp can be tuned to an optimum level, but it only deals with incoming packets. If you want control of which programs can connect to the www you will need a 3rd party FW.

I really hope this gets you to where you need to be on these FW's.