Comments of free firewalls...

[rdsu]

Hi,

I searched a while on the web for a free firewall and find some "good" but I want to know your opinions and advices about them...

If you have some time, please tell me what you think about Jetico, NetVeda, Securepoint and R-Firewall in relation of resources, easy to use, protection, features, the future potential, basically the pros and cons of them...

Thanks

[Just wondering]

I haven't tried Jetico yet....but a lot of people think it looks very promising.
There is a new version out today, and it looks like they toned down the rule
settings.
R-firewall wouldn't install on my machine...I believe a lot of ppl had that problem
with it.
Secure point ...seemed unfinished...part of it was still in German...and I couldn't
get it to work.
NetVeda...It's pretty much ready to go out of the box, passes DNStester, and
quite a few more....the list of features and what you can do with it...goes on and on. I can't test it for stealthe because because my ISP has a firewall.
But I'm sure that it will. You will find out that it has many features, or more, then the paid for FW's have. One thing...you will find out that you can do the
same things different ways. It has a on line forum...what I've heard is the
response time to emails is very quick.
They have a bit of a diffent way of using explorer.exe, but I found out if you
deny Services and controller app....Generic host process for win32 services,
spooler subsystem app....explorer.exe allow....if you use firefox...and set
iexplorer....to deny or ask....you should be as tight as a drum.
It takes longer and harder to explain..then it really is, and to do....should take
you only a few minutes..after you get used to the layout and exploring things.
If you have anymore questions....I'll try to answer the best I can.

[Kerodo]

JW - Netveda passed the stealth test here on my machine, so it appears to be ok in that respect.

Of the ones listed above, I would pick Jetico or Netveda. R-Firewall would not install on my machine either, and from what I saw of Securepoint, it was still fairly rough around the edges.. saw several bugs etc..

[Diver]

IMO, Jetico while showing a lot of potential, is not finished yet.

[Kerodo]

Diver - of the 4 listed above, Jetico is perhaps the most finished.. :)

Well.... maybe not. Netveda would be an easier choice for most...

[Arup]

I would rate NetVeda as a viable option for those who want a firewall right out of the box, the basic ruleset in it is very good, Jetico is for tweakers, one who would like to know everything that is going on in the firewall itself. Zone Alarm Free is also an excellent out of the box solution.

[rdsu]

Thanks for your words ;)

I will take more attention to Jetico and NetVeda...
Do you know if they will be free or is only for next times?

[Just wondering]

As far as I know NetVeda will remain free.....and Jetico will be going pay.

One nice plus about NetVeda ....is that the computer is shared...It has tons
of filters ....to stating certain time...language...chat rooms and even an eraser
feature...when someone younger...cant give out their real name...address etc.

[mercurie]

Good information all. I have been considering NetVeda when my Norton PFW 04 expires in about a month on the family machine. :lurking: Thanks. ;)

[Arup]

mercurie,

Please give us some feedback on NetVeda when you get to install it, I am using it on my other PC and find it to be a very good product overall, paid or free.

[Chuck57]

All this talk about NetVeda got me curious, so I installed it. It passes pcflanks, grc, sygate's security tests, and hackerwatch. Stealth in all. I don't bother with leaktests, so can't comment on them.

I haven't really started looking at it beyond the above. I think with this firewal and prevx free, a computer should be pretty well protected.

The last time I tried making rules on a firewall, I locked myself out of my computer and had to reformat, so I'm not going there. If someone comes up with a set of rules someday, I might be tempted to copy and use them, such as Blitzenzeus's rules for kerio 2.1.5. From what I've been reading, NetVeda's basic rules seem to be very good, in any case.

I'm impressed with NetVeda so far, and their forum seems very helpful too.

[Just wondering]

Chuck and Crow:

If you add PG free with prevx....You'll have a very very tight machine.

Yeah Chuck I know how you feel about FW rules....you can become quite
overcome by them...the makers seem to think you know as much about
rule settings as they do.

If you try what I suggestted above..for rules ...you should be do okay.
If you experiment ...just try 1 thing at a time..that way you should get out
of trouble,

Also a good free app to have is erunt...very easy to make a back up of your
registry.

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

[rdsu]

And about resources (RAM and CPU Time)?

The Jetico and NetVeda are very good in this area?

Can you put here some pictures of NetVeda?

How these two programs can be compared with Outpost Firewall Pro?

[Just wondering]

My normal set up of security apps....cpu usage is usually 0
ipcsvc.exe about.....................9,200k
ipcTray.exe about....................7,400k
ipcLAM.exe (the GUI)................5,400k

http://www.snapfilespro.com/gnomescreen.php?id=108782

Hmmmm Outpost and Netveda are similar in a way....But then very diff.
I like Outpost....in fact I was going to lic. it...until I discovered NetVeda.
Seems Outpost gives many BSOD's and runs heavy on many ppls machines.

I did learn a lot using Outpost...that also helped me with NetVeda.
With my limited knowledge of FW's, I feel they are close to equals.
Like apples and oranges between the two
But free vs $50.00.....seems like a no brainer.

[Arup]

Don't forget another good and free firewall that is Sygate, good support forum, once set up is quite formidable and has good logging features, the pro version adds basic functional IDS.

[rdsu]

-{ Quote: "Don't forget another good and free firewall that is Sygate, good support forum, once set up is quite formidable and has good logging features, the pro version adds basic functional IDS." }-
Sygate is a very easy to use firewall, but it use some cpu resources... :(
So I'm trying to find another free solution...

[Arup]

NetVeda is a low resource firewall and so is Filseclab which is also a good app control but like Tiny, you will get pop up hell in the begining, and sadly due to its being made in China, you will get limited support. Securepoint is another free firewall which is good, specially when combined with their free IDS Nuzzler.

[rdsu]

When I had some time I will use for a while the NetVed and after Jetico :)

R-Firewall also seems very nice if a lot of users are having installing problems, it's better not test it for now...

[Kerodo]

Jetico is very low on resource usage.. If you are a rules-oriented person, it may be right for you. And it's free right now anyway, for the moment, so you can always use one of the free releases, even if it goes pay in the future..

[Arup]

Why not also consider the venerable Kerio 2.1+BZ rules, it is the easiest to create rules in it and consumes least amount of resources, combine that with either Winsonar or Antihook and you have yourself a nice protection, all for free.

[mercurie]

All,
If I try out NetVeda I will let the membership here know how it works for me. I am pretty safe from outside attack due to router firewall. I need good outbound control and logs and it will be on childrens machine with BoClean and Command Av and I do not want to pay. I am not a fan of rules. This FW does interest me. I just do not want to go Zone Alarm anymore. :)

[Just wondering]

Mercurie

As a family man....you will love the Filters in NetVeda, there are many of them
and different ways to apply.....Just make sure you explore them all.

I know what you mean about FW rules....Out of the box seems to have pretty
tight ruleset.

I am looking forward to your opinion.

[clansman77]

i also was trying netveda for the past one week.thanks arup for the suggestion...absolutely no problems here ..low resource ,out of the box protection..consumes about 13 mb ram..no software conflicts..the only thing that i found a lil bit confusing is the interface.you need to tinker with the settings for about a day or two to completely understand it.the configuration is lil bit different than most others.also i agree that the filters are very good to wipe out undesirable content..all this for free is unbelievable..i replaced zonealarm with this already..

[rdsu]

I saw, some time ago, that NetVeda release the v3.7. Where can I download this version?

Thanks

[Just wondering]

I just checked the site....as far as I know they are still on vs. 3.6 released
Jan 15, 05

[Arup]

clansmann,

You are most welcome, the interface is something that could do with lot of improvement and I would also like them to introduce rule making for individual apps regarding port access, IP etc.

[Just wondering]

Arub....You can do already....make rules for certain apps.

Groups.........Group type..Drop down. Application....New.
When you get the Pop up....Put in name in Group Name.
Location.....Find your app click on it...click on blue down arrow.
Save.

Security......Advance Internet FirewaLL..Using the drop downs...add your rules.
Click on add button....then the save button.

When you are in the Group section....have the drop down on... All
You can click on edit.... ie Web Server...and you will see it uses Port 80.
Looks like you can do some more fine tuning there.

[Arup]

JW,

I am sure you wouldn agree that the Kerio 2.15 interface for making this rule can be emulated and make our life much easier.

[Just wondering]

Whenever I've used diff FWs including the old Kerio...They were all pretty much
out of the box..Had trouble understanding FW's then....and still do.
No matter how closely I try to follow anyones ruleset...I usually get hopelessly
lost. The light is slowly starting to dawn..and somethings are coming somewhat
in focus. So with me it's mostly trial and error....Mostly error.
That is why I am in the FW section so much....hoping some info will sink in.

[wings]

-{ Quote: "Sygate is a very easy to use firewall, but it use some cpu resources... " }-That's absolute nonsense. I don't have the fastest PC and it's using only 2 or 3% CPU and even under heavy stress with hundreds of connections open it doesn't even hickup.
I even have it installed on a 350 and 450 Mhz that are mainly used by my wife and one of my kids purely for the internet and even on those machines it does it work unnoticed. I personally think it's one of the best Fireealls available (the Pro version that is) and I base that on some 5 years of experience and testing many others (I work in the IT); it's stable and the latest versions are very protective and can withstand any online firewall test you throw at it. Compare that with ZoneAlarm which is good, but an incredible resource hog and more unstable than every before after version 2.x something. A Firewall has to be relaible, shouldn't crash. Sygate never crashed as far as I can remember. Just try for example ZA or Outpost... just give it a few weeks. Not to mention that you can even run Sygate Pro on a server, but then it's only reliable after build 2525 and higher.
Try to run those other personal Firewalls on a server... :P

[Kerodo]

He was probably comparing Sygate's CPU usage to others, and he's right... Sygate uses the most CPU of ANY other software firewall. Most idle at 0% while Sygate always uses 2-4%.

Sygate also has other problems. It allows packets in to listening ports without permission. I have tested this and seen it several times using CHX in the background to catch what Sygate allowed in.

There is also the long standing and world famous loopback issue which they don't seem to care to fix. Google for it and I'm sure you'll find many discussions.

And worst of all, Sygate seems to have abandoned the home market altogether lately. Their 5.6 Pro beta is 3 months old now, without an update, and when you download it, it says it's good for 30 days. The 5.6 Pro update has been expected now for ages. When it will actually be released is anyone's guess.

Sygate is not perfect... none of them are...

[rdsu]

-{ Quote: "That's absolute nonsense." }-
This have all the sense, at least, on my system...

-{ Quote: "Sygate never crashed as far as I can remember. Just try for example ZA or Outpost... just give it a few weeks. " }-
I use Outpost for more than 2 years and didn't had any problem with it, and the last version improved its used resources...

[peterc]

Here's a CD run firewall I'm going to try out Sentry Firewall CD version 1.5.0-rc16 I now that should be a secure firewall as it's 'read only' check out what comes with it hp://www.sentryfirewall.com/docs.html I'll burn it to disc tomorrow and give it a run.

peterc :o