Vista Firewall Control by Spinx ok?

I am using vista firewall with Vista firewall Control by Sphinx that does outbound protection.

Do these 2 work ok to protect against inbound and outbound?

And please do not tell me to get another Firewall application... I am asking if these 2 are ok, and if not, may I please ask you provide evidence and data that proves that they fail.

Thanks

 

I don't know Sphinx, but the ADVANCED vista firewall can block inbound and outbound traffic... so it should work if it is properly configured.

Alex

 

I have used Vista Firewall Control at times with no problems at all. It is basically configuring the Vista Advanced Firewall and should do the job fine for inbound and outbound unless you want to pass leak tests.

 

Hi Alex,,, thats how the Sphinx vista Firewal control works. It unlocks the vista advanced outbound protection, using a nice GUI.

 

Yeah but those leak tests are dodgy and even many firewalls fail those leak tests.. Leak tests are one of the biggest scams to enter the firewall market in an attempt to get people to use and to sell certain firewalls.

I have had "leak tests" say a packet got through, even when I wasn't even connected to the internet lol. They are dodgy and it's just a marketing scam to get people to use their firewalls they recommend, because they either own that firewall or get kick-backs from the owners.

 

Well, it will be ok! It works very well using the vista advanced firewall but the interface is not very good.

If it uses the internal vista's firewall, it should work.

Alex

 

Yeah... There is no point of having a firewall that pass leak tests if you don't get malware in the first place...

I use Eset Smart Security and I know that if it becomes like some others suites with HIPS and other big features that control everything, I will use something else.

I use a good and simple firewall and a good antivirus.
I am also behind a nat router/firewall.

I think that there is no need for anything else if you are careful.

Alex

 

Good words Alex. You have good understanding.

I have been using PC's and Internet since day 1 (yes I am an old man )and I have never been infected with anything. I only download and install apps and programs from well known and reputable companies. And I never open email attachments unless scanned and I know who sent them. And I use Firefox with no-script add-on etc etc etc.

 

Same for me! But I only use pc's since about 10 years

What firewall were you using before vista's one? (if there is any )

 

The only problem I saw with vista's firewall is that it dosen't block EVERYTHING... Inbound traffic is ok... But some system outbound traffic isn't blocked

Like multicast udp packets that are sent to port 5355 on the lan to do name resolution in the network... It is called llmnr (well.. I think).
Vista is set to listen on this port and answer back on the network. I don't know why but the vista's firewall isn't blocking this... It can't really do anything bad, since disabling network discovery will cause your system to stop answering to those packets, but it will still send them (don't know why...)

I don't have other examples but I know that the eset firewall can block just about everything so this is what I use...

 

LLMNR is a protocol defined in RFC 4795 that allows both IPv6 and IPv4 hosts to perform name resolution for the names of neighboring computers without requiring a DNS server or DNS client configuration.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb878128.aspx

There is an enabled default outbound rule in Vista firewall to Allow the multicast when the firewall is set to private network. You can change that rule (in Windows Firewall with Advanced Security) to block if you don't want those packets on your private LAN. For Public/Domain networks you would need to have a blocking rule as in any rule based firewall.

 

I was using COMODO, but I removed it due to it feeling a bit heavy for me and my resources. COMODO was an overkill for me personally.

I also just removed Sphinx Firewall Control, for some odd reason it blocked my wireless internet connection.

Back to just using Vista firewall for me But I am very careful what I install anyway, only install things from well known and very reputable companies and authors. So Vista firewall will suffice for me.

 

Is there a real security risk if I run Vista firewall as is, and not alter LLMNR?

 

I don't think so! But we can't be too careful

 

No (remember that outbound control is not on by default in the Vista firewall). Just use the Private network setting on your home LAN and the Public network (with the block all incoming connections box checked) on open networks like airports, coffee shops, hotels, etc. and

 

yeah, exactly. I just don't like the fact that turning off the network discovery dosen't stop from sending those multicast packets on the lan... Your computer won't answer to them but still send them...

 

Spinx Vista control firewall should I keep keep vista on also or not?...

I got this from their help files but it just basically says it does not matter if both or one but I want to make sure

"The both products work entirely independently. VistaFirewallControl uses the Built-in Firewall only once, at the first start to grab the initial settings. Due to complete product independence you can switch the Built-in Firewall ON or OFF at your option. "

So would you keep both on or just turn off Vista's firewall thanks

 

If you take a little time to learn how to configure the outbound rules yourself you wont need an addon like spinx.