Firewall with prompts?

Hello,

I used and am still using Zone Alarm free and have for many years on XP machines. I use an old version of firewall only and I have it set to prompt or ask about every program that accesses internet. I know most would not like it that way but I prefer to see each time even when opening the browser. But I am now using a newer Windows 7 laptop and the old ZA versions won't work. My questions are what would be a good replacement to ZA free that will prompt by application like ZA did? Can PrivateFirewall be used that way as I was thinking of giving it a try? Also for PrivateFirewall or any others can you use system restore to go back to before firewall installed to completely remove it? This is my main concern with trying firewalls as I have heard uninstalling can cause problems and not fully remove if I don't like it so I want to be sure before experimenting.

Also does anyone know if ZA free can be custom installed to work like the old? The current versions seem to be so different than old and are much, much larger so I am reluctant to try and my concerns about uninstalling are big here as well and was not sure if system restore could be used in a worst case to go back cleanly.

Anyway any advice or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Private firewall does pop up a fair amount and i use it on one of my 2 of xp installs.
Agnitum firewall is the one i mainly use but it is paid for.

As with all security software its better to image the OS partition before you install a firewall.

 

Yes, you can: [SOLVED] Zone alarm ignores deny list

But you will need always to remember to UNcheck "remember this settings" to each prompt.
As most users where messing up with pop-ups ZA made this setup very difficult to achieve. BTW, getting all those pop-ups will not help to increase your security and ZA is not designed for privacy purpose (e.g. no call home tool) or for pure application control software.

Note: System restore normally breaks ZA (you will need to remove and reinstall ZA). If you want to use system restore just be sure to run it in safe mode and it will work for most security tools.

 

Thanks for the replies.

fax, do you know what version of ZA free was the first to work with Windows 7? And I am not sure what you mean by no call home purpose. As far as system restore I really don't want to use it but is there an easy way to fully uninstall ZA free?

Same question for PrivateFirewall, does it uninstall easily and completely?

Lastly I saw one called Windows 7 Firewall Control by Sphinx Software and it looks like it may do what I want. But does anyone know if that program is just is an easier way to manage the built in Win 7 firewall? And if anyone has used it would they recommend it? And does that program uninstall cleanly and fully?

Thanks again.

 

sorry cannot recall the first version working in win7. Anyway, it is not security wise such an old version for potential undisclosed and disclosed vulnerabilities. ZA can be removed simply from the OS uninstall (nightmare stories are always posted on internet on most security software out there but you should not take them as the norm but the exception). ZA also has a dedicated removal tool in case of any problem.