Any opinions of Ashampoo firewall 1.20?

Just looking for any opinions of the newly released version 1.20.

http://www.ashampoo.com/frontend/products/php/product.php?session_langid=2&idstring=0050

I have heard about the closed/stealth port issues of past versions. Any improvements of this newer release? Anyone hear if it has it improved in the leaktest area either? Thanks.

 

Got it installed and running smooth so far and using only 13mb of memory. Still not recognized by Windows Security Center, but not a big deal for most I think. For simple outbound detection it is most likely good enough with other security software running. I use Prevx1 and AVG AV as of now, and no conflicts. Prevx did shoot up a warning when I clicked to try out the Ashampoo Firewall update, but indicated if i knew what it was to allow it. Even though there are stronger Firewalls out there like Comodo and SKPF Free, for a low memory usage FW if your behind a Router Firewall, I don't think this FW is all that bad. I had troubles with PC Tools and ZA Free already so what the heck.

 

My son recently installed it, having used Comodo for a while. So far he likes it better than Comodo because it's far less taxing on his 256MB RAM and it's been 'behaving very well'.

 

Sounds like it might be worth a try on "My PC" (in my Sig) as I also had issues with PC Tools one, but I liked it.

 

Just installed and ran Shields Up, all ports showing as closed, couldn't find how to stealth ports within the program.

Now uninstalled.

Not impressed.

 

I tried this out. Leaves some ports wide open. Also, theres no way of configuring inbound rules to close those ports. It's ok for outbound if you're behind a router firewall but otherwise stay well away.

 

I ran it. Nice GUI, light, and easy to configure. Ran the Shields Up test, and all ports were stealth. The only problem I had was that for some reason it caused Avira AV's MailGuard to stop working. As soon as I unistalled Ashampoo firewall, Avira's MailGuard was activated again. I'd probably still be running it if it wasn't for that.

 

Hello,
I will give it a spin later today, see how it behaves.
Mrk

 

Hello,

Well, not everything is rosy.
The "get code" process is quite messy - too complicated.
When I tried to enter the code I get the popup alert: 8 codes in the Translation are still missing. Ok... I get the window for entering the code - in German. No problem. Figured it out.
Entered the code. Congratulations.

Firewall.exe has encountered an error and ... closes. Dead.
Internet connection for other applications kapput along with the firewall.
Hmmm....

Upon reboot, it's back to life.

Requires IE 5 to be installed? Why?

When defining rules, it wants to configure IE and OE with default rules. Naughty little devil. Does not disable Windows Firewall ... tsk tsk ...

At least file sharing, ICS/NAT is quite simple.

Overall, very friendly and simple GUI.

If not for the little German / die glitch, it could be a nifty little boy. Now, I'm gonna give it a few days for more extensive testing, maybe toss a bit of P2P on it, see how it fares.

Running at 11MB, for all who care.

Mrk