Firewall for laymen??

my lady friend needs a firewall. any suggestion guys?

i guess i can't endorse outpost firewall since its a little complicated bcoz of component control but its doing fine in my system though. she's a safe user, just uses her notebook pc for IM. maybe, it's very uncomfortable for her to be bug by many firewall'z pop ups( component/application control).

tnx in advance..

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

For ladies? What the hell? Tell her to rtfm and learn about the software if she intends to use it, it's essential to know what the firewall is doing and telling you to make it effective.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Zonealarm free is the easiest firewall for a newbie, That's why it's so popular, and it's a good firewall to. Easy to setup.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

I can only agree to that.

One does not need much to do...protects you straight out of the box, without having to tinker and configure.
Nice one to have.
Though I'm pretty sure there may be better ones out there..but ZA free, is for me.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

thanks.

she jus got alarmed when her friend lost $$$ bcoz of identity thief. poor lady.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Well in that case.....a firewall is not the only thing one needs to protect
against this kind of crime.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Hi Nat. I started out using zonealarm when I first got on the net about 4 years ago. Zonealarm in my opinion is as good a firewall as you can get. It just doesn't have all the bells and whistles like other firewalls. Like the ability to create rules, logging isn't very good. I could go on and on. However, zonealarm imo has as good a protection as you can get. The last version I ran was 2.6.132. Great firewall.

I've been using kerio 2.15 for about a year. I really like it.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Yeah me too. Been with ZA since about 4 or so years.

I switched to another one for a while, outpost I think it was....but I ditched it again, because I found it a bit confusing for my nerves, lol.

Did you switch to kerio because you like to do your own little tinkering, or what was the reason ??

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

I went from zonealarm to sygate free. I ran sygate about a year. I wanted to tinker around, and learn how to make rules. Although I never made any with sygate I came across a kerio forum on dslreports.com I read around on the forum for a while, and decided to give kerio a try. I was scared to death I would make a wrong rule and get hacked

I don't have the link right now. But there is a ruleset there for you to go by. A good tutorial on how to properly configure kerio 2.15. I like it because it uses the least system resources of any firewall( except for Look n Stop) If your interested...Just go to http://www.dslreports.com Click on forums. and look for "kerio support " I believe that's the correct name, haven't been in there in a while.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Mr2cents, I appreciate the link you gave me..but I'm afraid it's only meant for people with fast internet access, at least on first look, thats what I saw.
And I'm still on 'slow-moe' dial up.
But oh well.....I get around.

P.S. At you least you had the courage to 'mess' with configuring. I don't !!Hahaha!

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

DSLR/BBR is a set of forums, and tools. It doesn't matter what kind of connection you have, except a couple of their tools.

A link to the default replacement, a ruleset to start out with which covers many FAQs, and is more secure than the default rules provided by the program, is in the 'other firewalls sticky post' thread here also.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Will you take a suggestion from a gal? If one can't be bothered by firewall alerts, then one shouldn't be online. But one can't stay away from the internet.

My recommendation is to use Zone Alarm Free. Unfortunately, there is really no such thing as set it and forget it. Take the time to read the alerts. If it's a connection or program you initiated that wants internet access, then allow it. If your unsure, there are forums like this one that can guide you if you're not sure.

For an easy way to learn, Zone Alarm is my recommendation. Three years ago, I decided I was going to be the only user of my computer, not some nameless, faceless, script-kiddie, or hacker on the other end of the wire. My first security application was Zone Alarm Free. From there, I've developed an interest in digital security. I'm no guru by any means, but it's not hard to learn the basics. I enjoy perusing these forums for tips and tweaks.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

yeah, right. i used ZA too when outpost wouldn't let me connect to the internet because of incompatability with bitdefender standard. i juz don't know but it really does happened in my machine.

BTW, the thing w/ ZA it doesn't recognize BitD. (correct me if im wrong) no big deal though. so when outpost released it's new version, i gave it a second chance. it's doin smooth right now but sometimes when it loads first before a2 during boot. it won't let me connect so i need to reboot.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

There are a few ladies that post here who are very knowledgeable about firewalls
and security in general.

That said, I have to agree with ZA being a good easy to use Firewall.

Dan

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

If this is Outpost reporting another firewall (and you are certain that you are not running one) then you can disable this check. See the Outpost forum thread Outpost conflicts with BitDefender (Standard) for more details.

I'd agree with the recommendations made here for ZoneAlarm being the simplest to use - but you may need to adjust that colour scheme to suit the ladies...

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

If she chooses Zone Alarm, I urge you to monitor the installation with Total Uninstall. Why? Because (if she ever changes her mind) Zone Alarm is an absolute beast to get rid of.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Good point.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

I must be the only one who has never had trouble with uninstalling ZA in the past.

Done it umpteen times, always make sure to exit ZA, reboot, make sure vsmon isn't running, uninstall, reboot again, then use my reg cleaner to clean up the remnants. Rebooting several times seems to be the key.

If u try to uninstall, unaware vsmon is still running, is where i would assume the nightmare begins.


snowbound

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

I've un-installed ZA once with no issues, guess I was lucky because if it's going to happen,
I'm usually the one it happens to.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

I've uninstalled zonealarm several times with no problems. The main thing you want to do before uninstalling zonealarm is disengage zonealarms "true vector engine". In older versions, this was simply done by unchecking the box.."don't load zonealarm at startup"... I can't comment on the newer versions of zonealarm. Because I haven't ran zonealarm since version 2.16? Don't remember now the exact version

If you don't disengage the "true vector engine" you're gonna have a mess Unistalling zonealarm is not the beast most people make it out to be.

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

For what it's worth, from this woman's perspective, Sygate Personal Firewall has been the best and most carefree for me. I used Zone Alarm and Kerio, in that order. SPF doesn't do the kinds of things that can make a broad <laughing> get paranoid and watch the firewall logs too much! Of course, men NEVER do that!

I doubt, somehow, there's ever been a thread here about firewalls for Gentlemen!

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

At the same time?

What on earth for?

You're right.

Somehow i think it would be unforgiving.



snowbound

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Of course not! First I stopped liking Zone Alarm, then I stopped liking Kerio months later.

The idea of a firewall that would be best for Ladies could be seen as condescending by some...

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

Everyones mileage varies Snowbound....but it appears you and I....and many others have been down the same road

 

Re: Firewall for Ladies??

**Clears throat***takes two steps back*** then vomits***
hated it!! two thumbs down***cough**cough