ESS firewall : working fine?

Hi!

I've been running Outpost firewall for a year now, and I'm thinking about getting rid of it for a few reasons, including the fact that I'm really bored of trying to solve compatibility issues all the time (especially when both my firewall and antivirus feature HIPS...), which would not happen with an all-in-one solution

I've checked the manual, but there's not many screenshots, therefore I didn't really get to see how configurable it is

could someone please post a few screens? (I would like to know more about available options when you make your own rules)


and of course I'm interested in knowing your opinion about the ESS firewall : is it working good for you? are there known issues?

thanks

 

it is working fine for me but I put my two machines in Interactive mode before doing anything else and let the fw learn all my app's for internet access, auto updates, manual updates, the xbox 360, WMDC, WMP sharing, file sharing etc...I have had not problems with thelatest version but I did have to clone a rule for NTP in the last version but did not have to do that with the new one.

to speed up the Internet connection recognition on boot, disable the superfetch service and now for me it is almost an instant connection as ESS loads....things do slow down if my mobile is plugged in over a boot but I do not think that is not related to ESS.

 

are you able to specify ICMP settings?

and did you test your system with a port scanner? (PC Flank, Shields Up etc...)

 

I can report that with ESS Automatic I Failed the Ping test in both the Shields Up "Common Ports" and "1st 1056 Service Ports" tests But Passed the other parts of the test and the Internet Connection Analysis.

Another post-er advised he Passed the Ping tests I failed while in Interactive Mode at the time (GRC Leak Tests several posts down). (https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=201052)...

I'll post about what to do for Automatic soon.

 

i like ess firewall for its basic features (application prompts upon outbound).... the incoming my router/nat does most of the important work..

i found outpost never got it right with any version after 3.51, even then it had no real fast user switch support.

ive always used nod32 av in the past, and ess looked ideal, is working out perfect here now, my only gripe with the firewall is that it has no way of removing/disabling of the programs pre-programmed unremovable rules.
i treat ess as an antivirus first, the firewall is only a handy extra.

i wouldnt find ess ideal for someone on usb modem, without nat..

 

I used sheilds up at https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 to test all they offer.. passed with no open ports .... keep in mind I am also behind a DGL-4300 D Link Gaming Router/Gigabit switch......

My systems passed all tests for file sharing, common ports, All service ports and spam.....

I am on PC flank now...I thnk this may be testing my router more than my actual PC but so far so good, not problems on the stealth test.

it flunked the "leak test" and says my browser is sending out personal info on the quick test.....

the browser test flunked... says I need to set my firewall to dsiable referrer ... how is this done in ESS?

all ports stealthed on the trojan test. for vulnerable and known ports...same on the advanced port scan....for tcp oorts - i did not do the half open test.

passed the exploits test with everything selected.

 

ping test? it must have something to do with ICMP settings

yup it does, my brother's computer is behind a router (no software firewall installed) and he passes both PC Flank and Shields Up tests

if you're using Firefox, you can disable referers that way :
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Network.http.sendRefererHeader