Not happy with Online Armor

[mattbiernat]

Originally Posted by Beethoven1770

you have hit the nail on the head when you say you should have a more powerful laptop.

Okay here we go. I have been now using Private Firewall for 2 weeks. No slowdowns, everything on my computer remains snappy and fast. With OA, my computer was going to a crawl after 2 days of use. So its not a computer problem but bad programing that causes OA to be such resource intensive software. Perhaps if they would have made OA 64 bit, from ground up (like others have suggested in here), it would have been much faster on 64bit PCs.

[fax]

Most likely a conflicts with other third party software and/or hardware installed on your system.
I cannot imaging OA been slow up to crawl on all 64bit installations

[Amit]

Originally Posted by fax

Most likely a conflicts with other third party software and/or hardware installed on your system.
I cannot imaging OA been slow up to crawl on all 64bit installations

I couldn't agree more.

[zip]

I use OA Free on 7 64bit with no slow down, but I do agree that a 64bit version of OA would be better.

[zip]

Avast! says most of the virus' caught by it's av are stopped by it's webshield.

I don't know how good OA's webshield is, but if it is anywhere as good as avast!, coupled with OA, Mbam Pro and MSE is a very strong setup.

Every day I get an update from OA, MSE and Mbam Pro, so no registry hack should be needed for MSE.

Please don't make any mistake, I'm not suggesting using avast! with MSE!!!

[IvoShoen]

Originally Posted by zip

Avast! says most of the virus' caught by it's av are stopped by it's webshield.

I don't know how good OA's webshield is, but if it is anywhere as good as avast!, coupled with OA, Mbam Pro and MSE is a very strong setup.

Every day I get an update from OA, MSE and Mbam Pro, so no registry hack should be needed for MSE.

Please don't make any mistake, I'm not suggesting using avast! with MSE!!!

I would recommend K9 Web Filter:
http://www1.k9webprotection.com

[Page42]

Originally Posted by Albinoni

I am on the verge to uninstall it soon and go for another good or free FW that does the job just as good.
Any reccomendations

After several years of using OA, I got tired of the issues (almost always due to conflicts with other software) and went with another program. Most recently, OA and SBIE and Chrome were all (not) working together to leave Chrome inoperable. OA support acknowledged the conflict and stated that the next update would fix it. To be honest, it's not the first time they've said that regarding this issue.

Truth is, most software ultimately doesn't get along with some other software. I think it is an unwritten law or something. So when I say I removed OA because it was causing my browser to break, what is most accurate is to say the combination of software I had on my machine was not optimal.

I had tried PFW and liked it but there were still slowdown issues on a machine I had with only 1GB of RAM.

I went with Comodo D+ and have found a keeper. I have read several other users state that Comodo inundated them with alerts, but I'd say that is due to them sliding their settings up to paranoid. Paranoia has a price, and I believe that price is no peace. I keep the Comodo security level set at Safe Mode. I have made most of the recommended adjustments to tighten things up (per Chiron's How to Install Comodo Firewall). And Comodo is very quiet. No alerts during Windows Updates. I am quite pleased with it after suffering lots of headaches with OA over the years.

[zip]

Originally Posted by IvoShoen

I would recommend K9 Web Filter:
http://www1.k9webprotection.com

You don't seem to be familiar with OA as it doesn't have child safe filtering.

If I wanted child safe filtering, I would use the one provided by Norton Safe Connect.

OA's Webshield catches virus' and malware.

I suggest you try OA before posting here.

[zip]

Originally Posted by Page42

After several years of using OA, I got tired of the issues (almost always due to conflicts with other software) and went with another program. Most recently, OA and SBIE and Chrome were all (not) working together to leave Chrome inoperable. OA support acknowledged the conflict and stated that the next update would fix it. To be honest, it's not the first time they've said that regarding this issue.

Truth is, most software ultimately doesn't get along with some other software. I think it is an unwritten law or something. So when I say I removed OA because it was causing my browser to break, what is most accurate is to say the combination of software I had on my machine was not optimal.

I had tried PFW and liked it but there were still slowdown issues on a machine I had with only 1GB of RAM.

I went with Comodo D+ and have found a keeper. I have read several other users state that Comodo inundated them with alerts, but I'd say that is due to them sliding their settings up to paranoid. Paranoia has a price, and I believe that price is no peace. I keep the Comodo security level set at Safe Mode. I have made most of the recommended adjustments to tighten things up (per Chiron's How to Install Comodo Firewall). And Comodo is very quiet. No alerts during Windows Updates. I am quite pleased with it after suffering lots of headaches with OA over the years.

I'm very happy with Online Armor Free

[zip]

OA Free works great with all browsers. No slow downs.

[Page42]

Originally Posted by zip

I'm very happy with Online Armor Free

Originally Posted by zip

OA Free works great with all browsers. No slow downs.

All of which is good for you, but doesn't help the OP who has asked for recommendations for another FW.

[Blues7]

Originally Posted by Page42

All of which is good for you, but doesn't help the OP who has asked for recommendations for another FW.

I think zip might actually be the reincarnation of (or at least channeling) Victor Kiam:

"I liked it so much, I bought the company".

FWIW, Comodo FW is working very well here too. (And I was a very unhappy camper when issues with OA forced me to forgo the program after several years...as you well know, Page.)

[zip]

The only two firewalls I can recommend are OA Free and ZA Free.

Comodo is the worst fw, avoid it like the plague.

[Blues7]

Originally Posted by zip

The only two firewalls I can recommend are OA Free and ZA Free.

Comodo is the worst fw avoid it like the plague.

You forgot to add "in my experience" to your opinion. (Though I'd appreciate reading a more comprehensive evaluation if you care to elaborate. Perhaps it might be worthy of its own thread.)

[zip]

I've always liked OA, but it never stayed on my computer because it was so buggy. But that all changed.

It's not buggy no more. I used to call OA Bugware.

It's now the best fw, IMHO.

[Dundertaker]

Been a user of OA Free and Premium since 2008 but never really kept it for a straight year. OA Premium version 5 has been improved but sad to say when paired with Nod32 or Avast Pro system was a bit sluggish especially with Firefox. Might be just be or just this system...I agree that the Chrome and SBIE issue is and has been very loooooong indeed.

Instead of SBIE I use RunSafer. The pop-ups are still the same and have gotten accustomed to it. I open all the programs after installation use it a bit and see what's the pop-up about. Answer it then and there. This would take me around 1+ hours for all of the programs. If I do not do that OA will be noisy always for a week+. Setting exclusions are a must with OA. One thing I like to see with OA is thay maybe they can consider some granularity for creating "File Groups" paving the way for you to copy rules from another application (Comodo firewall) or setting a Predefined Policy of your own (Comodo D+ Rules) for the same-type-of-applications like converters, media players or games.

In my x64 I use Emsisoft IS and am finding it okay. Just that but if I try to enable MBAM Pro in realtime wham sluggish (a bit) especially when I use 2 browsers + MS Excel + PPT + Ployedit lite + Foxit Phantom + Zoner Photo Pro. Photoshop or ImageReady while/during internet browsing is sluggish. This has been the 5th month (hmmm..I think --wanted to use the license) of me using EIS on the x64 system. Still observing though.

Among the keepers for me (depending on the AV combo) it's always been Outpost Pro / Comodo / Privatefirewall.

The one bad thing I've noticed about OA (free) is lag when running small programs. For instance, trusted MSys command line programs (ls, grep, etc.) will hang for a couple seconds each time you run them.

The lag doesn't seem to affect larger programs though.

[jasonbourne]

OAfree does not also allow importing of a saved config file. You'd have to set it all over again if ever you will uninstall /re-install it. Exclusions are also not possible.

[AMIGA500]

Originally Posted by mattbiernat

Okay here we go. I have been now using Private Firewall for 2 weeks. No slowdowns, everything on my computer remains snappy and fast. With OA, my computer was going to a crawl after 2 days of use. So its not a computer problem but bad programing that causes OA to be such resource intensive software. Perhaps if they would have made OA 64 bit, from ground up (like others have suggested in here), it would have been much faster on 64bit PCs.

At least online armor does not freeze the computer up solid like PFW does.
Ive used OA myself and there has never been any problems.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for PFW which brought nothing but frustration.Many users on this forum have had problems with it.

[ctrlaltdelete]

Originally Posted by jasonbourne

OAfree does not also allow importing of a saved config file. You'd have to set it all over again if ever you will uninstall /re-install it.

That's one of the limitations of the free version. The information is available on the website.

Originally Posted by jasonbourne

Exclusions are also not possible.

That's not correct. Exclusions can be set in all OA versions.

[acr1965]

I've used OA off and on for a long time but I keep having to uninstall as the program keeps forgetting rules. Pressing "allow" or whatever it is called now, 50 times in a row for an app that already have set a rule for is a PITA. If the forgetting rules problem would be fixed I'd maybe give OA another try but since that has been a consistent problem for years I doubt a fix is coming any time soon.

[Amit]

Originally Posted by acr1965

I've used OA off and on for a long time but I keep having to uninstall as the program keeps forgetting rules. Pressing "allow" or whatever it is called now, 50 times in a row for an app that already have set a rule for is a PITA. If the forgetting rules problem would be fixed I'd maybe give OA another try but since that has been a consistent problem for years I doubt a fix is coming any time soon.

I just click on remember my decision and click allow. OA runs fine. I think you should try it again.

[acr1965]

Originally Posted by Amit

I just click on remember my decision and click allow. OA runs fine. I think you should try it again.

Been there, done that (several times). Not wasting anymore time on it.