Question about installing software firewall for home network

Hello,

I have Verizon DSL right now and I own 6 computers that I and my family all use. I am wanting to install a firewall on all of the computers as we already are on a home network together. I have been looking at different firewalls in the past and I have tried ZoneAlarm Pro with all of them. I had the worst of luck with ZoneAlarm Pro because the computers would often lose their connection to the Internet eventually I reformatted all of the computers.

I am now looking for a good software firewall for all of my PCs... I am thinking of purchasing Outpost Firewall Pro and I am hoping someone can let me know if there is any known issues with a home network and using Outpost and having Outpost installed on all the computers on my home network.

Also, I have a work laptop because sometimes I work from home. Therefore, I am wondering if by having Outpost on all of the PCs if it will keep out my work laptop from connecting to my company's network to do the work I need to do. As it is, I have changed alot of settings in my Linksys router for my work laptop to be able to access the Internet and I am wondering again if Outpost Firewall Pro would keep out my work laptop. If it does or even not, is there anyway I can tell Outpost that my work laptop is a safe computer connecting to my home network ?

I hope I can recieve all the replys I can because I really don't want to purchase Outpost Firewall Prolicenses for all of my PCs and have my work laptop not being able to connect to the Internet because of Outpost Firewall Pro...

Thanks everyone... hope you can all help me.

 

Hello,
Nothing beats Sygate. It's the best you can have for internet connection sharing.
Mrk

 

I use ZA Pro for my Internet connection and found it to be perfect and never encountered any probs what so ever, but than again I'm sure others will work as well.

 

The router will take care of the internet sharing.
You might want to wait just a little until the new version of Outpost comes out (I think by the end of this month). It has some nice features.
Any software firewall is going to "nag" you for a while until your rules are set up and "trained" during normal use of the computer. I still like Outpost FWIW.

 

Hi everyone.... Thanks for all your comments. I have decided to wait a while till the new Outpost comes out.

Thanks again ,

Gracie

 

None whatsoever - you may need to check your LAN settings to ensure that your local network is listed with NetBIOS checked for file/printer sharing but Outpost will set this by default.

The only area that can be a complication is if you are using Windows' Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) where one PC has the Internet connection and acts as the gateway for all the others. Since you mention using a router, then this will be the gateway so ICS should not be a concern.

If you do purchase Outpost, I'd strongly recommend you consider the Family Licence (see Agnitum's Purchase Page) since it covers up to 5 computers for the cost of 2 standalone licences.

If your laptop is connecting to the Internet via your Linksys router then Outpost has no bearing on it.

Since you receive free updates for a year after purchase (and can purchase further years' updates at a 50% discount thereafter), there is little need to wait for the next release - unless 4.0 is seriously delayed you should be able to update to it at your leisure (and it would make sense to wait for a little while after its public release anyway to allow for newly-discovered bugs to be fixed).

 

Paranoid2000,

Will the rules/configuration seamlessly migrate from 3.5 to 4.0 during the update/upgrade process or will she have to redo the whole thing?

 

Since every Outpost version released to date has been able to import the configuration from previous ones (a couple of updates did require one plugin to be reconfigured), I would be most surprised if 4.0 didn't handle this also.

 

Thanks

 

Hello Paranoid2000,

Thanks so much for making a reply on this thread I created... you really went in depth in my concern and I appreciate it.

You mentioned that my work computer would not have a problem as it goes through the router... I've had to tweak many settings for it to be able to and on another note, I do have WEP enabled on my router. Would this have any conflict with Outpost/my networked computers and/or my work computer being able to connect being that Outpost/WEP would be enabled...?

Thanks again,

Gracie