Firewall choices for Vista (32bit)

I am currently running ZoneAlarm AntiVirus ( V8 ), but down to 120 days on my subscription, so it is time to reevaluate.

What other firewalls should be on my short list for evaluation? I need the ability to easily block outgoing programs.

 

Honestly I like ZA 8 the best but that's IMO. As for other ones you could try the Built in Vista firewall there is a Free GUI for it if you Google it its a good firewall and of coarse is free. along with a few others out there I have heard good things about Outpost 2009 and Online Armor. Might be worth checking out.

 

I have tested two firewalls with both 32 and 64bit Vista.
Look´n´stop is my choice.
If you´re into the HIPS and free stuff, Comodo works fine too.

Outpost is another one (haven't tried it though)

 

I am on Vista x64 and just installed Eeye Blink Personal to have a look, has firewall, AV, antispyware, etc, a typical "suite". So far so good, and the firewall actually seems pretty good as suite firewalls go, better than a lot I've seen anyway. I don't know how great the AV is really, but so far no issues. It supports Vista, both x32 and x64. Pretty nice in that regard. Free license for a year I guess...

Here is a link: http://www.eeye.com/html/consumer/products/blink/index.html

Doesn't seem to be using much ram at all, not that I worry bout that anyway with 4 gigs, but it seems light enough. Not overly complicated either, with too much useless extras/features. There is a vulnerability scanner with it if that's of any interest, I ran it, but pretty much ignored the results, as it seemed a bit overkill for my needs.

 

PC Tools is what I have been using for a while and it seems ok. It is being regularly upgraded and improved.

 

No need for a software firewall, just use NAPT in your router.

I have NAPT on router and no firewall and still I get stealth reports.

 

He may not even have a router, and also he is concerned about catching outbound traffic....

 

I do have a router, but my PC is a notebook, so it is mobile and not always using my router.

Also, I do like being able to block programs (like spoolsv, WMP, ...) from having access to the internet.

I might well stay with ZAAV, but 120 days does give me plenty of time to look around and see what has changed since the last time. Just looking for input.

 

I liked ZAAV myself when I used it, but that was perhaps a year or more ago. But it seemed to do the job at the time...

 

Since you use ZAAV, an equivalent or better product in the same bracket would be Online Armor+ ( which aslo uses the KAV engine like ZA).

The Vista version in beta and you can use it till its eventuall release.

 

These are the 3 that i would personally consider.The easiest and probably the one with least conflicts is sphinx vista firewall control,followed by look n stop.Outpost is very good but can be more problematic than the others ,and is more prone to conflicts with other software and hardware,but it does have a 30 day trial.
ellison

 

I liked the new Outpost 2009 a lot, but unfortunately it started BSODing on me for some reason. Comodo also works great, is lightweight and is quite configurable.

 

Used Kaspersky (KIS) when Vista first came out, then moved to Comodo which gave me no problems at all just running it as the basic firewall, no HIPS.

I've since began beta testing Online Amror in the last couple of months, there is a Public Beta for Vista on their download page now (http://www.tallemu.com)
Purchased it for 4 of my machines for 2 years AV+ protection.
Still a couple of minor issues in the beta but the support is great and the product and HIPS protection is excellent.

I now install this as standard on all PC's I fix for friends/family.

 

Another vote for Comodo which I have with its HIPS enabled on my Vista system. It's amazing how light it is, and even the alerts that it gives are quite reasonable (best of all, it's free). I've had Look'n'Stop on my XP machine for 3 years, being a basic firewall it is probably one of the lightest, but when I tried it on my Vista I couldn't see any difference with Comodo in terms of speed and impact.

 

I suppose some criteria is in order.

I am not really concerned about frequency of alerts; as long as they are real and not inconsequential.

I am also not particularly concerned about system overhead. I am far more concerned about reliability, integrity, and security.

And I could not care less about how much disk space it takes as long as the updates are inobtrusive and relatively rapid.

And I will not tolerate BSOD's.

 

I went from Comodo to Rising, as D+ was so noisy it made me want to smack someone. Frankly, I just installed a behavior blocker and said to hell with it, I didn't need more. Rising has been wonderful so far, glad I made the switch.

 

I'm back to Outpost after looking elsewhere (my problems of old are now resolved) .... great balance between control and usability - paired with KAV or NOD works great. The Asquared hips seems to be a good match

 

What about Vista Firewall?

 

Not an easy task with Vista Firewall without add-ons.

 

I think the best move from ZA is a one to OA AV+. There is something very human in OA and protection level is one of the best. But do not purchase it before trialling for a month, because there can be compatability issues with other security and some too sneaky games.

 

For vista x32 have you considered the Sunbelt Personal firewall (Used to be Kerio) I just installed it on Vista x32 and so far I really like its interface. Very easy to adjust settings. I know it currently doesn't run on x64 bu you mentione your running x32 and Sunbelt says they are working on an x64 version. Anyone else ever try this one?

I wanted to add that I was really interested in Online Armour but found it doesn't support Vista at all. I heard very good things baout that product.

 

I have been using the latest OA public release beta and it runs very nicely on my Vista Ultimate 32 bit set-up

 

Do you know how far into the beta or how close to general relase it is?

 

I asked the same thing on the OA forums yesterday.

The word is (from forum staff) that there should be an Release Candidate version in around a week or so. There is still no word on dates for the final version though.

There has been limited beta testing for some months now and a public beta test for around the past 3-4 weeks. From what I gather things are pretty stable now.

 

I run Comodo Professional on Vista 32bit. I think it is the best there is - for a freeware FW. And the matousec tests shows that it is the best Freeware FW and one of only 2 Firewalls (free or subscription) that gets a 10+ 'Excellent' rating:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php

Direct download link:
http://download.comodo.com/cfp/download/setups/CFP_Setup_3.0.25.378_XP_Vista_x32.exe