Free low resource firewall.....

[nixie21]

As long as it is free and uses little resources and it will keep me safe......Which firewall??? (not rule based if possible)

Thanks

[Diver]

Its the rule based ones that use the least resources. Try Kerio 2.15 or Jetico personal Firewall 1.0. The best known free application based firewall is Zonealarm. It will use more resources than either of the rule based ones.

[AJohn]

Adorons Firewall
http://www.enigmasoftwaregroup.com/more_info_dorons_firewall.shtml

CHX-I Packet Filter and/or NAT
http://www.idrci.net/packetfilter/html/index.html

Filseclab Personal Firewall
http://www.filseclab.com/eng/products/firewall.htm

Firewall 2004
http://www.wyvernworks.com/firewall.html

Jetico Personal Firewall Freeware Release
http://www.jetico.com/jpfirewall.htm

Kerio Personal Firewall Free
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html

Kerio 2.1.5 DL
http://www.kerio.com/dwn/kpf2-en-win.exe

Outpost Personal Firewall Free
http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpost1.html

Primedius Personal Firewall Lite
http://www.primedius.com/PersonalFirewall.htm

SafeZone Free
http://www.minutegroup.com/prodpg_safezone.htm

Secure Point Firewall and/or VPN Client
http://www.securepoint.cc/en/products-pcfirewall.html

Soft Perfect Personal Firewall
http://www.softperfect.com/products/firewall/

Sphinx A-Wall
http://www.sphinx-soft.com/firewall/programs.html

Sygate Personal Firewall Standard
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

ZoneAlarm Free
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conte...sku_list_za.jsp

[karll]

Which one of these do you recommend and have you heard of protector firewall before?

My isp gave me it for free and it failed a GRC test out the bat, lol

[mercurie]

Fellow Creatures,
SafeZone looks interesting to me does anyone know anything more about it?

My priorites in a firewall for my Emachine pretty much match this users thread exactly. I will be replacing Norton 2004 FW soon. ;)

[AJohn]

The only one that I see as a completely freeware firewall without limits that I have tested is SecurePoint, it is a great app. for being free. I would suggest tring some of the others, wouldn't mess with Jetico unless you feel you are fairly advanced with PCs. I would read up as much as I could before installing anything, maybe search these and other forums for reviews... a lot of installers these days are far from perfect and the last thing you need is tons of left over crap.

[no13]

Kerio 4 ... easy to use... real nice features... BUT... poor logging.
app control, app launch control, app spawn control.
Kerio 4 has a new beta too.

[NOD32 user]

Sygate Personal Firewall
Is it rule based? --> They all are.
The difference is the interface or the way you decide what is allowed or not.
Sygate has the option of setting specific rules if you choose...but
thats not needed. It simply asks if you want to allow net access to a particular process. You answer 'Yes' or 'No' and either tick 'remember' or not.
How secure any firewall is depends firstly on what it is capable of and secondly how much you understand to set it up.....
If you install any firewall and then tick 'Block All' it's as secure as possible for that product...Of course then you can't access anything either so it's all a trade off --> security traded for access.
Sygate has run great for me even with tiny resources.
Hope this has been a little helpful.

[Kerodo]

I found Sygate to be one of the worst on cpu usage.. ram usage wasn't particularly good either. So for someone looking for a low resource firewall, I'd not recommend it, even though it is a respectable firewall...

[AJohn]

-{ Quote: "I found Sygate to be one of the worst on cpu usage.. ram usage wasn't particularly good either. So for someone looking for a low resource firewall, I'd not recomment it, even though it is a respectable firewall..." }-

I would have to agree, Sygate seems to turn my PC into a slug, including my internet speed(somehow). Sygate also doesn't allow you to edit the Intrusion Detection rules, only add your'e own to override them. I recommended Outpost Pro, because when minimized (hidden/system tray only) it only uses 4,300 K. I have Active Content\Content Plug-Ins disabled, but he diddn't seem to be asking for those features anyway. When Frederic releases a solid version of Look 'n' Stop I will recommend that, it has very small resource usage, but at the moment it isn't the best without all the betas or w.e they are.

[NOD32 user]

-{ Quote: "I found Sygate to be one of the worst on cpu usage.. ram usage wasn't particularly good either. So for someone looking for a low resource firewall, I'd not recommend it, even though it is a respectable firewall..." }-

I don't know what version you're using, but I've always been able to get massive throughput without the CPU working overtime, even with MUCH lower specs than I'm running now. Your experience is foreign to me, but anyhow maybe my experience is uncommon...don't know.

-{ Quote: "... Outpost Pro, because when minimized (hidden/system tray only) it only uses 4,300 K. ...." }-

My current Sygate uses 6316 K. If you can't afford to use an extra 2k then definately rule out Sygate :)

[AJohn]

Thats cool... I dont like Sygate because of the way they handle IDS rules and default rules in general. It also seemed to slow my internet connection down, but I am only running a 533 Mhz PC. I almost always have Outpost Minimized and dont use all of the Plug-Ins, but im sure it can vary per computer.

[Can't tell]

-{ Quote: "The only one that I see as a completely freeware firewall without limits that I have tested is SecurePoint, it is a great app. for being free. I would suggest tring some of the others, wouldn't mess with Jetico unless you feel you are fairly advanced with PCs. I would read up as much as I could before installing anything, maybe search these and other forums for reviews... a lot of installers these days are far from perfect and the last thing you need is tons of left over crap." }-
Hi :)

I checked Securepoint site... There's a pay-professional/server version, and a free/client version... Is that my understanding?!

Never heard of this one before... Could you tell us more about your experience with it if you don't mind ?

Thanks

[Frank Leigh]

I'm using the free Outpost firewall on a little old sub-notebook that I got in a sale about seven years ago. It's a pentium (the basic pentium) 75MHz running Win98SE with 32 MB RAM and about 120 MB spare disk space. It works very well and is very easy (ie it doesn't ask me questions I don't know the answers to) to set up and use. I tried the free versions of Zone Alarm, Sygate and Kerio, but all noticeably slowed my system down.

[Can't tell]

Just wondering...

How about the XP-embedded Firewall?

Not heavy on resources, as far as what I've heard... Would hesitate to use it because no outbound filtering, and never easy to know what a M$ app is actually doing (maybe something not known by the user, as has already happened in the past with some other M$ apps, mhhh?!). But I don't know....

What do you think ?

[Kerodo]

I suppose the XP firewall would be ok if you don't want app control. But I don't really know since I'm running Win2k and not XP. For my own purposes I don't have any great need for app control, but most people want it. I guess it depends on how many crazy programs you download and install/run, and whether or not you use IE.

[Diver]

K-

XP phones home so many ways that it could really sell a lot of people on application control. Everytime you search it calls some microsoft server, even for local searches. This one can be stopped with a host file entry. Press F1 for help and it will call home, but this one seems to need application control. Run the "Add Network Place" wizzard and it phones home again.

[JayTee]

Diver,

I blocked explorer, disabled security centre, time and help. Now wondering what else to disable/ block. Any ideas?

[Kerodo]

-{ Quote: "K-

XP phones home so many ways that it could really sell a lot of people on application control. Everytime you search it calls some microsoft server, even for local searches. This one can be stopped with a host file entry. Press F1 for help and it will call home, but this one seems to need application control. Run the "Add Network Place" wizzard and it phones home again." }-

That's crazy... I never knew that. One more reason to like Win2k I guess... ;D

[no13]

-{ Quote: "hat's crazy... I never knew that. One more reason to like Win2k I guess..." }-Don't be so sure. ~wink~
-{ Quote: "Futher 2 Divers Post 17, You may find these threads of interest ! " }-
Quit it man. MS search tracking is paranoia. RPCSS is a critical windows component that has never [in WinME or WinXP] tried to "phone home".
You've becoming really paranoid about all this "phoning home" business, haven't you ;) Don't worry. Just supply a pseudonym for your windows install and don't bother to register with MS for support [its not free anyways].
Try to stay On topic.

[notageek]

I'm using Kerio 4.x. It's not that bad. Not buggy here just when I start it, it starts slow. I didn't want to use Kerio 4.x becuase of it being slow at loading but it's the only firewall I can use. Sygate won't install and ZA is not my cup of tea. I don't use the Sandbox that comes with Kerio 4.x. I don't need it. So that's works out there. But give it a try it's not that bad.

[no13]

kerio 4 bugs are there in logging features, mainly.
try the new beta [gutsy choice, not that sane to try a beta firewall]

Slow loading IS a problem.
If you don't like the sandbox, use Kerio 2... it's the same underneath.

[notageek]

LOL I don't nothing about rule based firewalls. That's why I'm using Kerio 4.x.

[no13]

-{ Quote: "LOL I don't nothing about rule based firewalls. That's why I'm using Kerio 4.x." }-
Kerio 2.1.5 has a "Ask the user" mode.
Use it in conjuction with the EXCELLENT config pack from BlitzenZeus @ www.DSLReports.com
you'll be really happy [kerio 2 also has simple app control, but rules give it more flexibility]

[notageek]

Maybe I'll give it a try. Thanks.