Free firewall shortage.

Upon browsing the web i have found a very grave shortage of decent free firewalls available.

Whenever we wish to use a free firewall it seems to come round to the usual suspects.
1.comodo.
2.online armor.
3.privatefirewall.
4.zonealarm.
5.outpost.

Then of course we have the windows built in firewall with add ons available.

Is this the choice we have.?
Why are free firewalls not being developed anymore.?

 

Yea.....the proverbial same old same olds. And in my case PFW is the lightest to date by a long shot compared to the others listed, but its GUI really needs some restructuring if you ask me. Dunno why some new free-lance developers take on this interest as a hobby and build theirself a name and following to add in a resume.

The same as you already pointed out also applies to HIPS imho. Even Behavior Blockers as useful as they proven to be in the past are sorely nonexistent.

I think whats happening is many are waiting things out untill Windows 8 dust settles. Who knows?

 

It's because most people don't have the ability to handle those firewalls, nor want to learn about it, nor fully understand what does a firewall do. Me included.

And this gets worse by knowing the fact that most 3rd party firewalls nowadays are bundled with HIPS as well, which will make things get more complicated. People want to use simple and easy to use but effective solution, be it about security or something else. Most people are either too lazy or just didn't have too much time to be bothered about that, or both. Me included.

And since Windows has a built-in firewall which works and a set-and-forget solution, people aren't interested to looking for an alternative. People think: "it's not broken, so why fix it?" They just simply love it without knowing how the firewall protects them. Me included.

 

Because firewalls are not like AV (detection), they are not better or worse, they either work or not. The main difference is basically just GUI and that is it.

 

Because there's no market to make money.

 

I guess you don't know your Marketing 101. Free = more users = more potential customers = word-of-mouth advertising.

Anyways, here's more free firewalls: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/probably-best-free-security-list-world.htm?page=0,5

 

Aha. And Canonical is a better investment than Microsoft.

 

I see pctools firewall is on that list.Is the free version on that site still available for download.

 

Where's TinyWall?
This is a pocket rocket of a firewall and has just recently been picked up again by the developer.

http://tinywall.pados.hu/

 

I think there are a few reasons for this, some of them mentioned already. But I think the biggest reason is the OS. Microsoft has worked hard at getting a good FW in place in their later versions. Not to mention better hardware FW's in routers. You add user account control, more secure browsers etc. etc. A bit off-topic but still in the discussion are the better made free AV's on the market. Some of these freebies check url's, websites and a host of other things to protect the user. The Fw's listed above basically came out when the windows OS was at it's infancy stage. There was a great need for these FW's at the time. That's not to say they are not useful now. Many people like to monitor stuff in/out of their pc's so there is some use.

Just my .02cents,
Ice

 

Like it or not, no new development is going to fly without it first being Windows 8 x64 compatible. Just the way it is thanks to. Microslop

 

Before you question the increasing lack of free firewall, ask yourself as to why does one need a 3rd-party firewall?

For inbound, the Windows Firewall is sufficient. Most people look at 3rd-party firewalls for "outbound protection". This is where it gets complicated.

If you want to limit access for legit programs, 3rd-party pure firewalls serve the purpose, more so for pre-Vista platforms (such as XP). Since Vista onward, you can do so with built-in tools (Windows Firewall with Advanced Security). Some developers realize that the interface might not be "user-friendly" enough for the user so they come up with front-ends for it.

However, I think most people see it differently. They see it as controlling outbound traffic of malware after it has executed. You can't blame people if things are marketed that way.

"If malware such as keylogger can't connect out, then it's game over for them".

Look at the sentence above. A pure firewall on it's own can't prevent malware or rogue process from piggybacking the connection that you've allowed for other programs (browser for example) That's why you see firewall vendors (such as those listed in the 'free' list above) including HIPS to counter this issue. Hardly a surprise isn't it?

Problem is this is a never-ending game and you're simply risking it. Relying on the idea of preventing malware from connecting out is a game of gamble, not security by design. At best, it's a damage control tool. At worst, it provides a false sense of security.

So, do we really need more? Comodo, Emsisoft, PrivacyWare, Check Point and Agnitum are still providing us with these "freebies". With x64 and KPP, the effectiveness of HIPS would diminish further. For controlling legit programs, the ones we have at our disposal right now is sufficient imo.

 

@safeguy.

Thank you for an excellent and clarifying post.

 

Depending on how you surf. If visiting Wilders and other friendly sites you are right-on the mark, other then those I would not trust Windows firewall.
There are a lot of so-called "good" programs that want to change internet settings via svchost.exe. Myself, I like to be alerted and able to block these changes.

 

90% of the people I know don't even know they need a firewall nor even have the idea their OS comes with one.
Also, Windows Firewall is an effective firewall. All the other alternatives are mostly for enthusiasts/geeks/nerds/developers and so on.
Free firewalls don't have a large market to go after because it's already taken by Microsoft, and in my opinion that's a good thing.
Your average user will spend long periods of time searching for music or doing social networking. They rarely look for 'free firewall' on any search engine.

 

Sorry...it's not an argument. If we get your way of thinking we can say
"90% users even don't know about virtualisation...so lack of virtualisation is the good way to protect the system"...sounds good?

 

No. I agree with you.
I was just giving a reason as to why there is a 'Free firewall shortage', which, in my opinion is because there's lack of knowledge from the average user.
A clear example of this is that most of the computer users I know will not use a search engine to search for 'Virtualization' or 'Host Intrusion Prevention System' or 'Sandboxing' or 'Firewall'.
Unless they hear about that somewhere.

 

There is no shortage.
The build in one for W7 is good enough.
Put a router in between the PC and the ISP and your are ok.

The Tinywall project is nice.

 

I dont use a router.I use mobile broadband.

 

In terms of 3rd party firewalls, there is a shortage. It's because...

TBH, even if we don't have so many choices the free firewalls available now are pretty good. I'd rather have a small circle of choices than having a large selection of products but less than half of them that actually do their jobs properly (-cough-avnowadays-cough-).

 

Microsoft doesn't give things for free? Not just betas, but Windows pre-installed at no extra cost? Sure there's that tax, but honestly it's free to the average consumer having no other feasible choices available.

And it's completely accurate to compare those 2 companies looking at their history, revenue, and whatnot? Not to mention, you've completely missed my point, because there's always a market (even if black/grey) to make money and nothing short of giving away items attracts more attention then free.

 

You've convinced me. I'm quitting my job and making a free firewall! I never realized how lucrative giving away my labor for free could be. Thanks!

 

That was quite funny, but I hope you didn't misinterpret my message.

 

I don't think I did. I just think your argument only works on certain economies of scale.

 

The certain part can be debated, but enough of that. My point was made, there is a market.

Lastly, I forgot one important detail: ad money. That means not only you get free marketers (if you're product is good enough), but they pay money in the form of website ads and maybe adware. With enough recognition, make a paid upgrade (if not already existing) and you're set.