Firewall experts: I need to make a decision

OK...Presently I use Nod32, On-line Amror (OA)and Zone Alarm Free (ZAF) as my security suite. The combo is working well. However, I am always looking to do 2 things:

1. Simplify my suite and
2. Make it more secure

The above 2 goals are often conflicting.

I am thinking about switiching to comodo firewall to replace ZAF. I think this would make my suite more secure. However, NOD32 is going to eventually release V3 with a Firewall. OA is also soon going to release a version with a firewall. So if the Firewall to be included with either NOD or OA is good, tusing them would simplify my suite even more than it already is.

So, do I:

1. Do nothing and wait for the NOD/OA firewall versions
2. Do nothing because my current suite works fine
3. Switch to Comodo now and wait for the OA/NOD firewalls to be released
4. Switch to Comodo now and not bother with the OA/NOD Firewalls because they might not be as good as Comodo

Thoughts?

 

My personal opinion,

I have never checked on the comodo+OA combo, so do not know if there would be any underlying conflicts with the system hooking/drivers. (a lot of testing would need to be made)
In your Position I would leave the setup "as is" with view to check out the firewall which is to be included with OA/nod, but dont install untill beta testing as been done.

 

I would say:

This would seem to me to be the best and most logical choice. I say that because, like you said, you are looking to simplify your suite, and to make it more secure. As of now, we don't know if Eset or OA's firewall will be "better" or "as good" as Comodo. But the key words there are "Do nothing because my current suite works fine". Since there's no rush, I would simply wait until the firewalls have been released, and then see how they compare....

 

NTARS (Never touch a running system), and i agree with @JRCATES as there is no rush and the other choices are still not finished, no knowledge about their quality, leave it as it is.

 

Modified #1.

1. Do nothing and wait for the NOD32 firewall version.

 

Let me give you a hand in here:

Dump ZA free aka "Superbloat FW" and install Comodo instead, which is lighter, better and more secure.

 

I would go with OPtion 3. Afterall messing around with security software is fun

 

I have a feeling the NOD32 Firewall is gonna rock. They have been developing it for a LONG time. They are also a company that I consider to be "best in class". That's why I use them. That's why I use Online Armor.

My worry about the NOD32 Fiewall is that it won't be simple enough. Back when I first installed NOD32, they suggested also installing Outpost Pro fiorewall. Man, that Firewall was WAY too complex for me. I hope that NOD32's firewall can provide similar protection to Outpost, but will be simple to use rather than complex.

I also think that I will probably have to gove the On-line Armor Firewall a try simply because the developer (Mike Nash) is such a stand up guy that really listens to his customers. I feel that his OA product is best in class HIPS protection and he absolutely provides top notch customer service.

By the way, thank you (and everyone) for the responses.

 

Your setup does not appear to have serious deficiencies (though it does depend on how you have configured ZA/OA) so I would agree that nothing needs to be done urgently.

Firewalls are complex items of software in that they need to cope with a broad range of network traffic as well as (increasingly) monitor Windows' process activity. As such, I would not expect great things of the first releases for OA or NOD32 so looking at a more established alternative to ZA would seem the better choice.

 

Unfortunately I cannot share your hopes for the NOD32 firewall, especially considering they are going to release a whole security suite rather than standalone firewall.

But anyway, I am afraid their firewall part of the suite is not gonna rock for some reasons. And the first reason is you cannot be an expert in any field even being the expert in your original field. For example Kaspersky Lab who did and does have great antivirus (not matter if it is "better" than NOD32 or not) released very primitive Anti-Hacker firewall and only later on they managed to improve it (but still well behind leading firewall vendords).

Another example goes to Agnitum, respected if not the best firewall vendor who did not manage to provide the best anti-spyware detection rate when adding their anti-spyware plug-in. Who knows maybe they will improve it in new 4.0 version but right their plug-in is not as good as leading dedicated anti-spyware scanners like those from PC Tools and Webroot.

I can also mention another firewall vendor - ZoneLabs who has just refused to develope their own antivirus/antispyware scanner. They have just licensed it from the Computer Associates.

So as you can see different companies who are respected professionals in their "original" fields were not able to repeat their high quality approach in other fields. So I am not sure if Eset will manage to be the first one to avoid this experience.

Plus, most antivirus vendors usually put just a packet filters rather than advanced firewalls: Panda, Grisoft, Norman, BitDefender - all these companies have created very basic firewalls.

But anyway, from the current perspective, I see personal firewall as a key component for the security suite product, and that's why I rate ZoneAlarm Internet Security as the top security suite available.

But surely you cann collect your suite from different products, and my favorite combo here is:

-NOD32 Antivirus;
-Outpost Firewall PRO;
-PC Tools Spyware Doctor;
-Mailwasher PRO (antispam);
-Process Guard.

But I think most ordinary users do not need to collect these best-of-breed applications and will be happy to use just one security suite product, like that from ZoneLabs.

 

One company ussually make only one awesome product and the rest just go along.
Eg. Kasperky can be considered as one of the best AVs, but their firewall, ehm, not.
Comodo has a great firewall, but their AV, I am not sure, but I would recommended it.
NOD32 firewall is going to be new one, maybe it will be worth of a try in a year or later.

 

This is just my point!

I do not believe in miracles thus I do not hope Eset will be able to post a killer product in its first version.

But I think in just 1-2 years security suites will become more balanced, bringing more security along with exceptional ease of use.

 

If you subscribe to a suite, you might be subscribing to:

1. Something you like plus somthing you hate (or liked it at first but now you hate it). Then how are you going to change one component? Disabling part of the suite and then adding a part from another company could cause conficts.

2. Something that needs a subscription (antivirus) plus something that doesn't (firewall). Companies like you subscribing because it locks you in and provides them with ongoing $$$.

An analogy might be the "high end audio" hobby where using separates from different manufacturers are the rule. Notice the associated equipment used in this review of the Wilson Audio Sophia loudspeakers:
http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/619/index5.html

Buy the best separates from the best manufacturers...if something better comes along in the future it will be easy to make a change.

 

Not a totally correct statement. ZA does use the VET engine from CA for the AV component. However the antispyware component was developed in-house by ZL and does not "borrow" CA's Pest Patrol engine.

 

Are you sure about that? I have read a few articles which state that the spyware engine is based upon pestpatrol. From my understanding both the ZA antivirus and antispyware are based on the older CA engines similar to the way in which the CA firewall is based upon the older zonealarm firewall.

 

3. Switch to Comodo now and wait for the OA/NOD firewalls to be released

to see if they have all the features that Comodo have and you need...

 

Yes that is correct. Only the AV Engine came from CA. See the following posts:
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=Antivirus&message.id=13828
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=Antivirus&message.id=13831

 

Hi, folks: Based on my experience, your lineup of Nod32,OA and ZAF have provided you nearly foolproof defence. If you worry your netsurf habit somehow and sometime deviates from ordinary and worry about the fatal infection, I would give you something to entertain: To install sandbox/virtulization application such as shadowuser or deepfreeze standard. They put your entire drive or partition in a sandbox. Anything you do or anything malmare has done will contain within it, completely insulated from your TRUE system. After reboot, everything, I mean everything in that box is gone forever. You therefore have clean drive all the time, of course with the exception of install malware on your own. Just entertain this idea.

 

Don't count your chickens until they're hatched! OA Firewall is excellent and if you use the OA AV+ version, it is backed by KAV, what else can you ask for. Anyways, there will be more added to OA in the future. By the way, the beta is going along nicely and if anyone needs more info, ask Mike personally because I don't know how much I can talk about the firewall before it becomes public beta.

dja2k

 

I must agree completely. If you want to ditch Comodo later (which I doubt most folks would), then since it is free - you can and then install the NOD 32 suite if you want...