Comments of free firewalls...

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by rdsu, Apr 7, 2005.

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  1. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    Hi,

    I searched a while on the web for a free firewall and find some "good" but I want to know your opinions and advices about them...

    If you have some time, please tell me what you think about Jetico, NetVeda, Securepoint and R-Firewall in relation of resources, easy to use, protection, features, the future potential, basically the pros and cons of them...

    Thanks
     
  2. I haven't tried Jetico yet....but a lot of people think it looks very promising.
    There is a new version out today, and it looks like they toned down the rule
    settings.
    R-firewall wouldn't install on my machine...I believe a lot of ppl had that problem
    with it.
    Secure point ...seemed unfinished...part of it was still in German...and I couldn't
    get it to work.
    NetVeda...It's pretty much ready to go out of the box, passes DNStester, and
    quite a few more....the list of features and what you can do with it...goes on and on. I can't test it for stealthe because because my ISP has a firewall.
    But I'm sure that it will. You will find out that it has many features, or more, then the paid for FW's have. One thing...you will find out that you can do the
    same things different ways. It has a on line forum...what I've heard is the
    response time to emails is very quick.
    They have a bit of a diffent way of using explorer.exe, but I found out if you
    deny Services and controller app....Generic host process for win32 services,
    spooler subsystem app....explorer.exe allow....if you use firefox...and set
    iexplorer....to deny or ask....you should be as tight as a drum.
    It takes longer and harder to explain..then it really is, and to do....should take
    you only a few minutes..after you get used to the layout and exploring things.
    If you have anymore questions....I'll try to answer the best I can.
     
  3. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    JW - Netveda passed the stealth test here on my machine, so it appears to be ok in that respect.

    Of the ones listed above, I would pick Jetico or Netveda. R-Firewall would not install on my machine either, and from what I saw of Securepoint, it was still fairly rough around the edges.. saw several bugs etc..
     
  4. Diver

    Diver Registered Member

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    IMO, Jetico while showing a lot of potential, is not finished yet.
     
  5. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    Diver - of the 4 listed above, Jetico is perhaps the most finished.. :)

    Well.... maybe not. Netveda would be an easier choice for most...
     
  6. Arup

    Arup Guest

    I would rate NetVeda as a viable option for those who want a firewall right out of the box, the basic ruleset in it is very good, Jetico is for tweakers, one who would like to know everything that is going on in the firewall itself. Zone Alarm Free is also an excellent out of the box solution.
     
  7. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    Thanks for your words ;)

    I will take more attention to Jetico and NetVeda...
    Do you know if they will be free or is only for next times?
     
  8. As far as I know NetVeda will remain free.....and Jetico will be going pay.

    One nice plus about NetVeda ....is that the computer is shared...It has tons
    of filters ....to stating certain time...language...chat rooms and even an eraser
    feature...when someone younger...cant give out their real name...address etc.
     
  9. mercurie

    mercurie A Friendly Creature

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    Good information all. I have been considering NetVeda when my Norton PFW 04 expires in about a month on the family machine. :ninja: Thanks. ;)
     
  10. Arup

    Arup Guest

    mercurie,

    Please give us some feedback on NetVeda when you get to install it, I am using it on my other PC and find it to be a very good product overall, paid or free.
     
  11. Chuck57

    Chuck57 Registered Member

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    All this talk about NetVeda got me curious, so I installed it. It passes pcflanks, grc, sygate's security tests, and hackerwatch. Stealth in all. I don't bother with leaktests, so can't comment on them.

    I haven't really started looking at it beyond the above. I think with this firewal and prevx free, a computer should be pretty well protected.

    The last time I tried making rules on a firewall, I locked myself out of my computer and had to reformat, so I'm not going there. If someone comes up with a set of rules someday, I might be tempted to copy and use them, such as Blitzenzeus's rules for kerio 2.1.5. From what I've been reading, NetVeda's basic rules seem to be very good, in any case.

    I'm impressed with NetVeda so far, and their forum seems very helpful too.
     
  12. Chuck and Crow:

    If you add PG free with prevx....You'll have a very very tight machine.

    Yeah Chuck I know how you feel about FW rules....you can become quite
    overcome by them...the makers seem to think you know as much about
    rule settings as they do.

    If you try what I suggestted above..for rules ...you should be do okay.
    If you experiment ...just try 1 thing at a time..that way you should get out
    of trouble,

    Also a good free app to have is erunt...very easy to make a back up of your
    registry.

    http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
     
  13. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    And about resources (RAM and CPU Time)?

    The Jetico and NetVeda are very good in this area?

    Can you put here some pictures of NetVeda?

    How these two programs can be compared with Outpost Firewall Pro?
     
  14. My normal set up of security apps....cpu usage is usually 0
    ipcsvc.exe about.....................9,200k
    ipcTray.exe about....................7,400k
    ipcLAM.exe (the GUI)................5,400k

    http://www.snapfilespro.com/gnomescreen.php?id=108782

    Hmmmm Outpost and Netveda are similar in a way....But then very diff.
    I like Outpost....in fact I was going to lic. it...until I discovered NetVeda.
    Seems Outpost gives many BSOD's and runs heavy on many ppls machines.

    I did learn a lot using Outpost...that also helped me with NetVeda.
    With my limited knowledge of FW's, I feel they are close to equals.
    Like apples and oranges between the two
    But free vs $50.00.....seems like a no brainer.
     
  15. Arup

    Arup Guest

    Don't forget another good and free firewall that is Sygate, good support forum, once set up is quite formidable and has good logging features, the pro version adds basic functional IDS.
     
  16. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    Sygate is a very easy to use firewall, but it use some cpu resources... :(
    So I'm trying to find another free solution...
     
  17. Arup

    Arup Guest

    NetVeda is a low resource firewall and so is Filseclab which is also a good app control but like Tiny, you will get pop up hell in the begining, and sadly due to its being made in China, you will get limited support. Securepoint is another free firewall which is good, specially when combined with their free IDS Nuzzler.
     
  18. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    When I had some time I will use for a while the NetVed and after Jetico :)

    R-Firewall also seems very nice if a lot of users are having installing problems, it's better not test it for now...
     
  19. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    Jetico is very low on resource usage.. If you are a rules-oriented person, it may be right for you. And it's free right now anyway, for the moment, so you can always use one of the free releases, even if it goes pay in the future..
     
  20. Arup

    Arup Guest

    Why not also consider the venerable Kerio 2.1+BZ rules, it is the easiest to create rules in it and consumes least amount of resources, combine that with either Winsonar or Antihook and you have yourself a nice protection, all for free.
     
  21. mercurie

    mercurie A Friendly Creature

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    All,
    If I try out NetVeda I will let the membership here know how it works for me. I am pretty safe from outside attack due to router firewall. I need good outbound control and logs and it will be on childrens machine with BoClean and Command Av and I do not want to pay. I am not a fan of rules. This FW does interest me. I just do not want to go Zone Alarm anymore. :)
     
  22. Mercurie

    As a family man....you will love the Filters in NetVeda, there are many of them
    and different ways to apply.....Just make sure you explore them all.

    I know what you mean about FW rules....Out of the box seems to have pretty
    tight ruleset.

    I am looking forward to your opinion.
     
  23. clansman77

    clansman77 Registered Member

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    i also was trying netveda for the past one week.thanks arup for the suggestion...absolutely no problems here ..low resource ,out of the box protection..consumes about 13 mb ram..no software conflicts..the only thing that i found a lil bit confusing is the interface.you need to tinker with the settings for about a day or two to completely understand it.the configuration is lil bit different than most others.also i agree that the filters are very good to wipe out undesirable content..all this for free is unbelievable..i replaced zonealarm with this already..
     
  24. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    I saw, some time ago, that NetVeda release the v3.7. Where can I download this version?

    Thanks
     
  25. I just checked the site....as far as I know they are still on vs. 3.6 released
    Jan 15, 05
     
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