BlackIce or Tiny

BlackICE is the best firewall I have ever tried - I have been using it for years. It never leaks (NEVER) if it has its baseline set, it will detect and identify trojans,worms in mail and risky html etc. It is a fantastic IDS also. Most people dont understand it. Try it for yourself. Ensure you configure it properly (taked 30 seconds) and it wont let you down. Ignore anyone who tells you it is not a propper firewall - it is. It is very easy to use and wont mess you about asking if you want this to connect with that using some protocol etc - it will do it all for you.

Fantastic product - I think it is the best product for the PC.

 

that is more truth than Gozilla

in total was tiny 6 = 18mb (4processes) and outpost (with all modules and blockpost 15 mb in mem.

but it is the truth it is a cannon. once you got that straight,....

that I do not like. I need to configure it myself (not a norton fan...)


never used iss to be honest. Only say I was imprssed with Tiny. OK it has a learning curve. but my beliefs are the first time I saw a puter was the same. didn't stopped me from getting to know my puter better and better. so it will be with Tiny. So it will be with all programs...

 

No problem - but I did want to avoid anyone else getting the wrong idea. Good luck with Outpost (for a good introduction, check out the Web-Hiker's Guide - while it covers version 1, most of it applies to version 2 also). You can also later add programs like System Safety Monitor or Process Guard to provide (or even exceed) the process control offered by Tiny.

 

It is really good to receive honest opinions on the firewall scenarios. I hadn't thought of the fact that I may leave myself open to something due to the fact I cannot understand how to configure Tiny I do have Sygate Pro and I know it has kept me safe but a few little 'bugs' and conflicts swayed me towards another firewall. I am not sure how many resources Tiny uses although I have an up spec computer. At the outset I was seeking to lighten my load so that I could control my oubound and let my router take the inbound pressure.

It is a new day and although I still need coffee I will be listing the pros and cons of the 3 firewalls and add the factor of complication may equal a security hole not to mention the stress when I just cannot work it out. I have yet more things to think about and am very grateful for 'ALL' opinions on the factors I need to take into consideration. I know I am going between one or the other but I would prefer to know for sure than have to start all over again

This forum has been a great help to me. The individual firewall forums are great to learn about setups etc but unbiased opinions are a big part of the final decision. Thanks.

 

A Little update on my testings to date. Tiny's manual definitely proved I would be on a huge learning curve (& perhaps at risk of doing something incorrectly ) my friend downloaded this to his test PC and soon realised we would be adding to the firewall load when we had the router. I have no doubt it is robust and very much needed if there was no router in place and one to keep in mind for the future but I would need to learn a lot more before being confident enough to use this full time

I have just installed OutPost Pro and so far I am very pleased with the basic setup and the ease with which I can configure my applications. I also have a lot to learn with this one and will need to print and read the manual in order to setup on my new install. I think the GUI is much better and more informative to Sygate's and have run a test at GRC and SOS with stealth results I will be testing this to the full over the next while and will most likely run the true test on my main computer before it is upgraded. I will now look at SSM to see how it would work along with the firewall. So far I feel OP is what I have been looking for just need to look into the rules and applications and run it further to see how it goes from here.
I haven't installed any plugins just running on the firewall with application control at the moment.

 

Glad you 've found your way.Since you have a router,just pick a light one that you can understand well.That's what counts.

I often think that we are a bit paranoid after all.I ve no router,i ve run various firewalls from time to time,i ve never been hacked or something.As long as you know well what to do with your firewall,i think one doesn't need to worry too much about being hacked.I worry more about viruses.

SSM is nice but causes problem in my PC.the 1.9.4 beta causes the system to reboot (NT authorization and countdown) and the previous has a memory leak at least on my pc. i m waiting for a new version.

 

Thanks for the extra advice on SSM - I did note it said beta so maybe not for someone like me I have started to explore Outpost and although I haven't configured a lot of it I do like it. My router keeps me safe and now I can control my applications so far I am pleased and more than pleased that I will not be spending another week trying to find a firewall

 

Some seem to use SSM without problems.It causes problems in my PC. You can try and see how it behaves on yours. Personally i like it very much,i wish i could install it,but i can't...

You ll learn Outpost soon.It's not diffcult.

 

Does your PC have Hyper Threading as this was the bit that stopped me with Process Guard

I have SSM ready to install and it would probably be OK on my laptop but if it is a hyper threading issue then it will not like my PC I would read more about it but the actual site you download from is ever so slow. I zip along everywhere else but that site crawls for me.

 

No,no hyperthreading here.I ve an Athlon 2500+.Yes,that site is sloooooooowwwww.

 

Do a Google search for "system safety monitor" and "www.sevenblue.com" (first phrase with quotes, second without). You should be able to find a mirror for it on an ancient Outpost Forums thread.

 

Hello,

a mirror for SSM 1.9.4 there :
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/mirror/ssm.zip

regards,

gkweb.

 

Anyone know if the author of SSM is going to update it anytime soon? I got the impression that 1.9.4 expires in Dec 2004.

 

Thanks for the mirror links to SSM. I am still working out little bits with Outpost as I have found a few services ticked by default which really should not be active if a user was going to install as an 'Out of the Box' firewall - thankfully I have the services disabled in Admin tools (system discovery service which would leave a port open) I know it is very early days and I need to get used to the various configs (I am sure I found things in Sygate when I first started to use this) Outpost has a nice GUI I just need to get used to all aspects. Thankfully I can test and try as my router will keep my porst as they should be!

I will look at the SSM later but a friend also alerted me to the fact that it has been in beta for a while and due to expire soon

It seems that a few major name firewalls including Symantec/Sygate/ZoneAlarm/Outpost still are not recognised by the security centre in SP2

 

In Italy the reviewer of the best PC news site that reviewed the SP2 said it is advisable to completely disable the Windows security centre as creates various problems and becomes annoying for a non newbie user.

 

Actually i mailed yesterday i think the author about that and about the bugs i encounter.No reply yet.

 

Hello,

from what I know, the author is going to release an update of SSM.
I don't have any ETA thought, could be in August, as it could be in October.

regards,

gkweb.

 

Thanks,good news.I can't wait

 

>Hyperion
Huh... I've got some big problems with my e-mail.ru account --- they implemented a "white-list" filtering which stops 80% of legitimate correspondence and still lets 50% of spam in

I almost haven't received ANY e-mail withing last 3 months. So please, if you want to contact me, use "divineglitch =at= mail.ru" or "mc =at= pochta.ws" accounts.
Please, be aware thet I reply on ALL incoming correspondence. If you haven't got a reply -- most likely your e-mail was filtered...


Regarding SSM: the new beta version is under construction and I still hope to release it in august. Unfortunately I have almost no time for anything...

I have already written a list of new features. Yes,t hat's sick, but it's better that catching an uncatchable bugs. Sure it may change, but that's what I've got so far:

////<bla bla bla>
This new version is recommended to upgrade to for Windows (tm) 2000/XP users, since it introduces a better (kernel-mode) implementation of application watching technique.

GENERAL NOTE:
Please, uninstall SSM and SSM Service Guard (if installed) before installing new version. 9x users should also restart computer.

* Config files from previous SSM version are incompatible with the new ones and there is no way to convert them. Unfortunately.
* New: "Kernel-mode driver for Windows *NT users (see special note)"
* New: "NtLoadDriver routine is now monitored (see special note)"
* New: "SSM Service Guard is now obsolette"
* New: "User interface (UI) is now detachable. "Admin mode" term now applies when UI is connected, otherwise it is "User mode""
* New: "SSM now can be executed as-a-service (see special note)"
* New: "Services monitoring plugin now supports service creation/deletion methods"
* New: "File description is now displayed in Application Activity dialog"
* Fixed: "Bugs in plugins implementation"

SPECIAL NOTES:
1) If you experience a "blue-screen" crashes (a.k.a. "bugchecks") after installing SSM, please report this to author (including a crashdump from c:\windows\minidump\*.dmp) and uninstall SSM (or delete mcnahook.sys from program folder). It is strongly recommended, that you report such problems, since if there will be no reports within a month, the kernel-mode driver will be no longer considered as a "beta" and there will be no way back to SSM without this driver (evaluation period for old versions will not be prolonged after December 2004).
2) This function is normally executed by services.exe irrespectively of what application is trying to start driver. Unfortunately, there is no known/documented way to determine it, but this question still was not investigated deeply. Binary driver filename will be provided only if available.
3) Because of OS limitations, some API calls (one, to be percise) currently are not filtered in Windows 2000
4) Executing as-a-service allows you to run SSM even when no user is logged in. However: no user-specific features will be available (plugins will fail to correctly handle HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry key, CurrentUserStartup menu folder); UI will be available only for the first logged-in user (or when no users are logged in at all) -- this may cause a problems during Fast-User-Switching in XP. Running SSM without a password set, can represent a potential security threat if computer is used by other users (not reliable enough), since it provides a way of executing a code with administrator's privileges.

////<end>

Sorry for offensive thread hijacking

 

Well,thank you very much for the update.
Sounds interesting ,specially running at kernel more must make it more secure too.

I ve never had BSODs with SSM (hope i won't start having them now.lol) ,but i did had probably buffer overflow (system shutting down,countdown etc) and i think another forumer here had the same.This on XP. Any idea if this persists ?


Thanks very much though for your efforts.I think the concept of how the programme works and interacts with the user is brilliant.

 

I started the thread and do not consider it a hijack I have just started to use SSM and welcome info on the new version release date. First day with SSM for me so trying to understand the ABC's first. I had one freeze on my laptop when I tried to open the program folder from the GUI - no BSOD but had to hit the power down. (this may not be related to SSM just happened to have it open at the time)

Thanks for the opportunity to run the monitor as an additional security layer.

 

Divine Glitch,

Thanks for the update also - and I hope those bugs go quickly.

The new features look very interesting (especially the Kernel Mode option). I would though ask you to consider removing the time-limit in SSM (or at least changing it to a once-only warning prompt). Having software disable itself without prior warning can cause serious problems (especially if it happens when someone is unable to immediately download an update) and this really seems inappropriate for any security software. I would consider it SSM's only downside.

 

Robyn-
Good to hear you found something you're pleased with. Outpost should prove be an excellent fw. I know if I wasn't already using Tiny, Outpost would probably be my next choice. Good luck with your new fw & ssm.

 

Thanks, I will still have to get used to both programs and didn't realise how many features there are in Outpost. It is only on my laptop just now so main testing is in the evenings but I have just realised my new set up not that far away so soon I will be configuring it on my main PC. I may consider Process Guard for my main set up as I run TDS so both would compliment. Hopefully all will go well and thanks for your initial advice for Tiny which has strength no doubt but a little too complicated behind my router.