In search of Nirvana

[pjb024]

Hi guys (and gals)

I always enjoy this forum and I have noticed that many of you check out every new build of every firwall. There may be reasons why you do this such as your job but I'm wondering how many of you find it's just a great hobby (you should get out more 8) ) and does it become a compulsion to keep switching and trying out new rulesets etc ? I personally have used XP firewall, Tiny, Sygate and Outpost but I'm currently happy with CHX-I although I know it doesn't give me any application protection but that's something for another thread.

So what drives you to keep switching and testing and do you have enough time left to use your computer for anything else?

Come to the confessional and you will feel better for admitting you are hooked! Perhaps someone can suggest a cure for those of us who are afflicted!

Comments please ...

[tahoma]

i was doing this a lot in previous years until i found outpost, and then i almost stopped. now i kinda make a note of the firewalls (and antiviruses) i might be interested in checking out, and take the opportunity to do so just before ive decided to do a format. so in short i test a bunch once a year

[Diver]

I have pretty much slowed down on the testing of firewalls. CHX-1 is one of my favorites. Its a hobby for most, only some don't realize its a hobby. A lot of the testing is done on a separate machine, so I don't hose my main PC.

[Arup]

Using CHX-I+Treewalk+Sygate+Antihook, still consumes less memory than KPF4 or Tiny and even with ICS, the host machine is totally stealth.

I have to thank Kerodo here for persisting with CHX-I, thanks to him and the great rule created by some kind soul at http://members.shaw.ca/BIND-PE_and_ICS/chxi.htm I know feel totally secure. I wish I could go back to Kerio 2.15 for outbound protection but Treewalk and Kerio 2.15 just don't go, massive reboots.

Welcome back from Honduras Diver, how was the diving there by the way?

One day you should try out Maldives, Andamans or Puerto Vallerta in Philippines. Truly awesome venues for diving.

[Diver]

Arup-

Diving in Honduras was nice. Giant barrel sponges are the feature there. Hotel was a bit crowded. the main advantage of Honduras is its only 2 hours and 40 minutes by air from where I live. All three of those places you mention are on my list, and I hope to get there within the next year or two. PI is most likely to be first. I was in Palau in Feb, and wil be going to Cocos Island at the end of May.

To get back on topic, just what is the advantage of treewalk? It looks like a DNS cache to me. Are you running Sygate for app control? What did you have to turn off?

[Arup]

Diver,

When you do come down here, please contact me.

Check out www.ntcanuck.com

Treewalk is a DNS server cum cacher, far better than the slow, unresponsive DNS servers of most ISP, made a huge difference to my system as well as Kerodo's so you should check it out.

[Kerodo]

I suppose I just enjoy trying different firewalls for fun. Don't know why, but I find it interesting as a hobby.. Lately though, I have kind of settled down some and am sticking with just one or two mostly. CHX-I is one of my favorite tools which I use, sometimes in conjunction with other firewalls. Right now I'm using Sygate.

Diver - Treewalk is great if you suffer slow ISP DNS servers. Check out the link Arup posted above and try it. It installs cleanly and you don't have to make any adjustments or touch any settings. Just install it and go. It disables your Windows DNS Client service and uses it's own cache, which persists thru reboots. Highly recommended. Uninstalls cleanly and restores your previous system setup. I had some sites which used to take up to 10 seconds to access (even with cable!), and now with Treewalk it's 1 second. Everything in general seems much smoother and quicker.

[Diver]

I must have a good ISP. DNS delays are very rare. If I start to get them, I will look into treewalk.

[Kerodo]

Mine are generally not too bad, but there are problems and delays, and Treewalk seems to have fixed that admirably.

[mvdu]

Yep - I've stayed with KAV, but haven't found a firewall that totally satisfies me. So I kept trying out new versions. Since I got a new computer, though, I seem to have settled on NPF 2005 as firewall. So far, it's working well with KAV.