Firewall easy on system resources

Hello,

I'm looking for a firewall, and would really appreciate some advise. I have a PIII, 900Mhz, 128MB RAM, WinXP SP1. Not the latest model My computer is behind a NAT router.

I'm mainly interested on a firewall that's easy on the system resources, and allows application/packet filtering. Stateful inspection would be nice too. Of course, I'm concerned about security and would like to be able to tweak the configuration extensively. I don't care about pop-up, spyware, ads, virus, etc, blocking, as other applications will be handling that.

I've been reading various reviews and threads around here, but still can't decide on a firewall. I'm thinking about Kerio, Tiny 6 - this one looks pretty powerful, but I'm not sure my computer can handle it - and Outpost Pro. Could any of you guys who are using these provide me more information on the advantages and disadvantages of each? And also, as system resources are quite a critical issue with my system specs, could you let me know how each of them score in this area - memory, CPU, etc.

Thanks!

 

Try Outpost 1.0. Its not the latest,but its far easier on resources then latest 2.0 Pro or any other firewall. It also provides packet filtering and program control. Just check it with ShieldsUP! later to be sure. Another option can be Kaspersky Anti-Hacker which is also very light on resources and provides very good protection.

 

Look'n'Stop, takes up 2,500K VM on my computer and is VERY light on resources. Application filtering and SPI is included but LNS's SPI is generally not compatible with applications such as P2P which use a lot of connections.

 

Thanks for the recommendations! LooknStop looks pretty neat, and Kapersky seems interesting. I downloaded the LooknStop trial, however, when I tried to install it, XP complained the file was not digitally signed for XP. I don't want to make my poor computer unstable. Does LooknStop actually support XP?

 

Fully XP compatible; http://www.looknstop.com/En/faq.htm

If you are concerned, take a system restore point, ignore warning and install.

If you are going to test different firewalls, I would strongly suggest making sure ALL of the previous firewalls are COMPLETELY uninstalled before installing any new ones.

PS With only 128Mb on your WIN XP system, no wonder you are concerned with resources/memory usage. I would strongly recommend you try and increase your memory up to at least 256/512Mb; http://www.crucial.com/index.asp

 

Yet another vote for Look~n~Stop

 

Kerio 2x, Kaspersky AH, & LnS will all be light on resources and provide effective fw protection (without the bells & whistles). I'd like to recommend Tiny but that's using 20Mb of mem for me right now. The other three I mentioned shouldn't use more than 4 or 5Mb.

 

Kerio 2.1.5 is what I am using... uses around the 5Mb mark.

TAS

 

I'm pretty impressed with Look n Stop so far. I really like it that it allows MAC address filtering, as my LAN is a wireless network. Pretty neat.

I'm a bit confused about the application control, though.