Outpost Pro or Look 'n' Stop

[jon_fl]

Which should I choose for ease of setup and use, app control, low resource use,
best overall security and support etc.?

RegNow.com is selling Outpost for 20% off. Has anybody purchased from them?

[Edwin024]

Look 'n' Stop is by far cheaper and as good as, if not better than Outpost.

LnS costs 39 for ever
Outpost: a sum of money per year.

LnS is low on cpu, Outpost the opposite.

And the help you have here on LnS is not available on Outpost. The makersof LnS are even here to hear about problems and solve them. Agnitum is far heavier...

Hope this helps!

[jon_fl]

Thanks Edwin. I also understand you can use one license for 2 computers with LNS. Is that correct?

[Edwin024]

Just try it ;)

[Robertbb]

I've got both Outpost and LnS. LnS is by far the best on resources. I was having a problem with Outpost using up to 35 meg of mem that their support department has yet to find out why. LnS stays around 8 meg or less and getting support for LnS is allot easier/better.

[jon_fl]

To activate the paid version of LNS, do you enter a license # if you are using the trial version or do you uninstall the trial first, then download the paid version?

[Edwin024]

You just enter the license number that you get!

[Blackcat]

-{ Quote: "I also understand you can use one license for 2 computers with LNS. Is that correct?" }-
No. You need a separate license for each computer you install LNS on.

https://www.regsoft.net/regsoft/vieworderpage.php3?productid=51997&f_1=

Still value for money ;)

[AJohn]

Def. L 'n' S.
Way better on resources, both have great support though.
Outpost has too much extras for me, which I like to use other freeware for(content filtering).

Both are great firewalls, but L 'n' S wins in my book(and is a one time fee).

[the mul]

I do agree that Lns is a good firewall and low on resources, but for me I prefer outpost pro and it does not matter to me if outpost uses 35 meg of memory because I have more than enough installed to run all my programmes, but if memory is an issue then Lns for low resources is a definite first choice to go for.



THE MUL ;)

[q1aqza]

-{ Quote: "
And the help you have here on LnS is not available on Outpost

Hope this helps!" }-

Outpost does have a very good support forum http://www.outpostfirewall.com/forum/

I've trialled both OP and LnS but decided on OP because if it's ease of rule configuration and it's fantastic logging capability, plus the other features such as script blocking etc are quite useful. I also find OP very low on resources usually between 1.5 to 8 meg. It only jumps up to 30 meg when you launch the main program.

[Edwin024]

With the hep I meant what we see here on this site about LnS. The creator itself is helping here. And that is what you don't see at Outpost.

And the price is also a main point, looking at the differences between these two in my oh so humble opinion :)

[the mul]

Yes u do have a point there, but what price do u put on having a great security programme like outpost, if u want qaulity u have to pay for it and I am not saying that Lns is not a good firewall either.
As for have some expert advise, there is [paranoid 2000] over at the outpost forum who has vast knowledge of outpost and u just need to ask anyone and he is your man for any problem solving, there are also many other good experts as well.
But at the end of the day It is up to each induvidual to decide on what firewall he or she chooses to install.

Your friend

THE MUL

[Eldar]

-{ Quote: "But at the end of the day It is up to each induvidual to decide on what firewall he or she chooses to install." }-Well said. ;)
I've had NIS2004 & Sygate, but after I tried OutPost I knew I found the one I wanted. So many firewalls to choose from. Keeps you busy, isn't it! ;D

[Paranoid2000]

-{ Quote: "Look 'n' Stop is by far cheaper and as good as, if not better than Outpost." }-While some of the statements here come down to personal preference, there are several major inaccuracies here.-{ Quote: "LnS costs 39 for ever
Outpost: a sum of money per year." }-Outpost does not require an annual payment. The official price of $39.95 (http://www.agnitum.com/purchase/) (the same as LnS) includes one year of free upgrades. Upgrades after this period can be purchased at a 50% discount (http://www.agnitum.com/purchase/renew.html) but are optional - the original copy of Outpost will continue working indefinitely.-{ Quote: "LnS is low on cpu, Outpost the opposite." }-LnS is lighter than Outpost here but that is because it does less - LnS does not do Stateful Inspection by default, and if you activate it you are limited to 128 network connections in the current version. Outpost has no such restriction but having lots of active network connections will require more processing. Outpost also provides far more logging information but this can increase CPU utilisation if your antivirus scanner is not configured to exclude the logfiles (which it should be).-{ Quote: "And the help you have here on LnS is not available on Outpost. The makersof LnS are even here to hear about problems and solve them. Agnitum is far heavier..." }-As others have pointed out, there is a separate forum for Outpost (though posts here on Outpost will get answered in most cases). As for the "makers" of LnS, I would point out that LnS is written by one person only, Frederic Gloannec. While this makes LnS a more noteworthy achievement, it also places greater limits on what improvements and features can be added. Also many features that are unavailable (http://www.fluxgfx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62) or currently in beta in LnS (e.g. running as a service to provide protection right from Windows startup, stateful inspection of UDP connections, the option of popup alerts when a rule is matched, the ability to block IP addresses) are already present in Outpost (via a third-party plugin, Blockpost, for the IP address blocking).

Both firewalls have strengths and weaknesses and their respective forums are the best place to check them out. However more (accurate) information on Outpost can be obtained from the PDF Manuals (http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpostpro.html) downloadable from Agnitum's website and the Web-Hiker's Guide to Outpost Firewall (www.outpostfirewall.com/guide/) (while it covers version 1, most of it applies to version 2 also and it provides a useful insight into Outpost's interface).

[ellison64]

Why not rial both , i believe both have a 30 day free trial.
ellison

[AJohn]

^Smartest thing said in this thread :P

[mercurie]

Thanks Paranoid for the corrections. I must admit that I have not looked at LnS carefully. I do really rely, as a start, on what members say here. So please lets try to be accurate.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Edwin024
LnS costs 39 for ever
Outpost: a sum of money per year.
[Paranoid]
Outpost does not require an annual payment. The official price of $39.95 (the same as LnS) includes one year of free upgrades. Upgrades after this period can be purchased at a 50% discount but are optional - the original copy of Outpost will continue working indefinitely.

Big difference between those two statements. :o No hard feelings just make sure before you say. O. K. ;)

[nameless]

-{ Quote: "LnS costs 39 for ever" }-
If you mean that LNS has free lifetime upgrades, that isn't the case. Full-version upgrades to LNS will not be free.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=104075&#post104075

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=44351&#post44351
.

[AJohn]

On the Look 'n' Stop hompage it clearly states "Unlimited licence (no yearly renewal)." at http://www.looknstop.com/En/looknstop.htm

Once you buy LnS you get Unlimited updates and will never pay for yearly renewal or need to buy a new license for any reason.

It clearly says that it "Automatically updates new releases." right above the Unlimited license statement.

Frederic must have changed the policy since his posts in the above linked threads.

[Edwin024]

Exactly...

This is also from their site:


Is the Look 'n' Stop licence a yearly or unlimited licence ?
Unlike many other softwares, the Look 'n' Stop licence is unlimited !

In addition, all 2.0x to 2.0y updates are free and automatic.

For example, Look 'n' Stop 2.01 users who purchased the licence 3 years ago could upgrade to 2.02, 2.03, 2.04 and the current 2.05 for free.

So: different then Outpost!

[AJohn]

"In addition, all 2.0x to 2.0y updates are free and automatic." contradicts "Unlimited licence (no yearly renewal)." and "Automatically updates new releases."

I Purchashed L 'n' S after reading the information on the page I posted above. If I was not under the impression that ALL updates are 100% free, then I would not have purchashed it. It does say Unlimited license and Automatic updates to new releases.

[nameless]

I take "unlimited license" to mean that the license you buy never expires, not that all updates are free. If you buy version 2.05, for example, you can forever use version 2.05.

But "unlimited license" is a somewhat vague term to use. Maybe someone should ask a very direct question to Frederic in the LNS forum.

[BlueZannetti]

As nameless suggests, if there are questions, it is best to ask the definitive resource in the LNS forum for clarification.

That said, I see folks confusing (and there IS a lot of room for that here) updates (within version) and upgrades (across major version releases).

Blue

[AJohn]

The page says "Automatically updates new releases." right above where it says "Unlimited licence (no yearly renewal)."

If you have to pay for Major releases than the page is Very misleading.

[Atomic]

I would easily choose Outpost if it wasnt for the 30mb memory usage... And for some reason i didnt really like L'n'S so now i use 8signs and i dont have any trouble with it. ;)

[nameless]

But (a) 8Signs isn't on topic, and (b) it has no application control whatsoever, so it really doesn't compete with LNS.

[aagfr]

-{ Quote: "I would easily choose Outpost if it wasnt for the 30mb memory usage... " }-

I'm new to using Outpost, and I've often read that it uses excessive memory (34mb), but I have found that simply bringing the GUI into view and then closing it releases almost all of the memory. On my winxp setup, memory usage goes down to approximately 2mb and stays low.

[aagfr]

Similarly, Firefox, which also has a reputation for excessive memory usage, releases memory when it is minimized - in this screenshot from 40mb to 4mb.

[nameless]

Windows itself gets the credit for that memory reclamation. Besides, is it really practical to manage memory by making a habit of showing and hiding GUIs?

[q1aqza]

Not sure if aagfr means minimising OP or closing it. If I bring up task manager without launching the GUI then I always find very low resource usage with OP but launching the GUI causes it to go up to the 30Mb region which does not seem unreasonable to me considering the features the GUI gives you access to. I always close the GUI when I have finished with it so I know it always goes back down to low mem usage.

On my PC, during normal operation (without having GUI opened) OP resource usage is on a par with Kerio 2.1.5 - OP varies betwee 1.5-8meg while Kerio is 4-7meg, with only LnS coming in under - usually 0.8 - 4meg.

I have to say though that I am behind a router so my OP is not having to "work as hard" as those that are using OP or LnS as the primary FW.

[gkweb]

Hi,

LNS "unlimited" means that once bougth, you are never required to pay again, you can keep the version you bought, it will not expire or stop working, there is no year renewal money to pay.

Then about the upgrades, as written on their site it is free from 2.0x to 2.0y, which has always been the case for years since the 2.01 to the current 2.05.

regards,

gkweb.

[Robertbb]

-{ Quote: "Not sure if aagfr means minimising OP or closing it.
" }-

With OP it's minimizing then it will release the mem. The problem I've had with OP is it'll start at boot using 35+ meg and stay there until minimized. After awhile it'll jump...not creep...back up to 35+ meg and stay there until you've minimized it again. OP's a good firewall if you don't mind that one problem.

[nod32_9]

I believe you can run the latest version of Outpost in BACKGROUND mode instead of NORMAL. This will pull about 8MB of RAM.

[q1aqza]

-{ Quote: "With OP it's minimizing then it will release the mem. The problem I've had with OP is it'll start at boot using 35+ meg and stay there until minimized. After awhile it'll jump...not creep...back up to 35+ meg and stay there until you've minimized it again. OP's a good firewall if you don't mind that one problem." }-

I'm still a little confused on the term minimising. My view on minimising is the gui reverts to an icon on the task bar (and also has OP icon runing in systray) but the GUI in this mode is still operational, hence using the 30+meg of mem. If you close the GUI but leave Outpost running (just an icon in systray) then I find the mem usage low.

I haven't checked my own mem usage with the OP gui minimised to task bar, I'll try that tonight when I get home to see what mem usage I get compared to a full window.

[AJohn]

-{ Quote: "Hi,

LNS "unlimited" means that once bougth, you are never required to pay again, you can keep the version you bought, it will not expire or stop working, there is no year renewal money to pay.

Then about the upgrades, as written on their site it is free from 2.0x to 2.0y, which has always been the case for years since the 2.01 to the current 2.05.

regards,

gkweb." }-

Can you show me where?

[nameless]

http://www.looknstop.com/En/download.htm

-{ Quote: "Corrections and minor updates of Look 'n' Stop 2.05 are also free." }-
Sorry, but major version upgrades (i.e. 2.x to 3.x) are not free.

Edit: Frederic answered this question here (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=57542).
-

[AJohn]

False advertisement if you ask me.

The only place you see that is under "Top 10 Reasons to choose Look 'n' Stop 2.05"
What if you already read all other pages and decided you want LnS. You saw
"# Automatically updates new releases.

# Unlimited licence (no yearly renewal)."

And were lead to believe that it automatically updates to new releases and you have an unlimited license.

Why would you read the "Top 10 Reasons to choose Look 'n' Stop 2.05"

It should say "minor updates of Look 'n' Stop 2.05 are also free." on the key features page.

[Atomic]

-{ Quote: "I believe you can run the latest version of Outpost in BACKGROUND mode instead of NORMAL. This will pull about 8MB of RAM." }-

I will have to test it myself. If it really takes only 8 megs i might reconsider returning to Outpost...

[BlueZannetti]

-{ Quote: "I will have to test it myself. If it really takes only 8 megs i might reconsider returning to Outpost..." }-
More like 12 MB if mine's typical....

Blue

[solarpowered candle]

I first came in touch with Look n Stop about 2 or 3 yrs ago > It was into the 2 version . Its only 2.5 now. In maybe 2 or 3 yrs it might hit 3 perhaps at this rate . $7per year for a top firewall is very tidy for my use.

[AJohn]

I agree :D
Just feel that the LnS website is misleading.

[nameless]

-{ Quote: "I first came in touch with Look n Stop about 2 or 3 yrs ago > It was into the 2 version . Its only 2.5 now." }-Actually it's 2.05.

[solarpowered candle]

yeppers you are right! make that 0.50 cents a year at this rate :)

[bellgamin]

-{ Quote: "
Quote:
Originally Posted by Edwin024
LnS costs 39 for ever
Outpost: a sum of money per year.
[Paranoid]
Outpost does not require an annual payment. The official price of $39.95 (the same as LnS) includes one year of free upgrades. Upgrades after this period can be purchased at a 50% discount but are optional - the original copy of Outpost will continue working indefinitely.

Big difference between those two statements. :o No hard feelings just make sure before you say. O. K. ;)" }-
I agree completely. It is bad enough that the poster felt it necessary to bad-mouth Outpost, but even worse that his critcisms were not even based upon fact.

[Bonnie]

From what I've just seen on agnitum site, looks like there's a good offer on Outpost at the moment, for anyone who is using another paid-for firewall.

[Kerodo]

I believe that's their standard offer... Nice though...

[Bonnie]

Expect you're right, Kerodo. Only been there a few times and only just noticed it. Almost makes me want to go out and buy something else, just to save money on it!

[Edwin024]

I have also bought Outpost. LnS gave me a few problems with my ADSL connection doing absolutely nothing and no clue what to do. Outpost works without any problems and is also quite low on the memory. Only 4 to 5K.

And sorry to the people that thought that I was bad-mouthing Outpost... Never my intention.

[cabville]

Just test them yourself. They both have 30 day trial versions. Neither firewall sinks its teeth into the system so they're easy to uninstall when your trial is completed. That's not true of every firewall but is with these two.

It's not just about which one is best but which one fits your needs the best. Every firewall has its strengths and weaknesses. Pick the one that fits your needs of the best.