What is the best firewall?

There's no best firewall, every firewall has its strengths and weaknesses. Just choose the firewall that suits your needs the most.

 

I like Zone Alarm Proffessional. The personal versions are usually not as effective.

Jimbob

 

allways what is best, this versus that, best firewall best av,... getting sick of it. but that would be my problem eventually but not this time lol.

Thanx Nadirah for your most valuable post... at least you got it.

 

I think these types of questions are by design, even if the person posting is not aware of it, is trying to raise a discussion because most people have a strong opinion. I think with these questions the answer is really the more important. Each persons need will be different based on their hardware and other running software. I like the approach of asking the poster more questions or as I have noticed other friends here do is present an answer like: brand x is very good, but brand y is also good, but I would stay away from brand b because.... and in your situation maybe even brand c, but others may feel differently. Then more discussion. Eventually we help someone make a decision and we all may have learned something ourselves.
(I understand your post was not meant to offend and indeed no one should be it is understandable )

 

correct Mercurie, not meant to be offended. I love the discussion really but sometimes I scratch my head... damn flees and I do must look at myself here too.

anyway outpost user here after the 2.5 convinced again (after trying kerio cause of some discussion here looooool

damn... have a nice eve

inf.

 

I'm selling the best firewall availible in the world--period--non other can compete with me

First, for only$29.95 ill tell you how--Ok for my fello wilders people only it will be free

Unplug your computer and use my super cyber condem to cover it for safe hex and for no extra charge it will keep dust off your computer too.

All that for my super low price--what a deal

 

A breakthrough discovery has been made everyone check it out!!!

http://www.fluxgfx.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=87

They found the best!

 

I have the free Zone Alarm & couldn't be happier. There were no problems with SP2 & it was so easy to set up. When I (finally) go over to broadband I will think about Zone Alarm Pro although I don't really need it as I already have alternatives to the extra stuff included in Pro. Tried Kerio but was not wrapped with it as my PC was not completely stealthed.

 

there is no such thing as a best firewall. i tried zonalarm (free and pro) sygate free and pro, kerio pro, jetico, been a licenced user of outpost quite some time, tried tiny,... and now: back to outpost after the upgrade to 2.5 and I feel the best with it at the moment.
I just feel better with op lol... I tried a lot, but at the end I just come back to op. why? blockpost, active content filtering (popups, referrers, javascript,.... ....) the ad block (see eric l howes list) integration, the easy set of rules, the splendid outgoing block mechanisms on 2.5, the out of the box stealth, the cheap renew licence, the splendid support (forum)... ... ...
op is blocking a lot of leaktest out of the box and when you configure it right (p2k 's post on securing your firewall) it blocks a lot more.
that is why.

just my two cents

 

Im currently using Outpost with Blockpost on one of my XP installs and im using L 'n' S with PtoroWall on the other. Either way I use BlockList Manager with them both and both setups work great. If you havent, you should try out Protowall INFINITY as I beleive it runs faster than Blockpost does even with the edited DLL

 

I've tried quite a few but my favourite payware ones are Outpost 2.5 and LooknStop because they are very powerful and light on resources (especially LooknStop). However, Outpost is the one I prefer (and use) because of it's ease of use (as easy as ZA), rule creation is easy and it's fantastic logging ability.

For freeware I prefer Kerio 2.15 as it is light on resources, which is the only reason I prefer it more than all the other freeware ones that are available because most of them are very good for nil cost!!!

I have a hardware firewall (router) so my needs are more geared to outgoing application control rather than incoming protection (I'm fully stealthed behind the NAT router).

 

I still use Zone Alarm Pro 2.6.362. I love it, it does everything I want a firewall to do.

 

Hey peeps....after soaking up much info. on firewall security, I think my brain needs a firewall to prevent an "info. overload"....anywho...I need some advice...

I am very firewall ignorant when it comes to protection...the cup is either half full or half empty....so, let me explain where I am.....I am running XP, and basically use my system for general purposes. I have to use dial-up to connect to the internet, for lack of having either DSL or cable in my area...and yes, I live in a very rural area....trip to Wal-Mart might as well be a mini-vacation....hehe.....and I am not paying the orbital costs for DirecWay...(satellite internet)....no freakin way!!!....

I am on the internet often and would like sufficient protection against hackers, spyware (have SpywareBlaster, and Ad-Aware SE), and any other evil poison lurking out there. Not running a network, since it's just me. Wow...this is getting longer as I go.....ok, to the point....what can you recommend as the most sufficient firewall for my needs? I tried ZA, and it just seemed too complicated to figure out....I liked the advisory info, but next thing I know , all these programs were asking me to allow...deny....allow...deny......I got so confused....I tried installing Sygate....BIG problems....4 times and no luck.....now, I am d/l Outpost as we speak. I intend to buy one of them after I have tried a few.....but the more advice I can get....the less time I spend d/l'g....don't forget...I have dial-up.... ......So many choices, I just do not have enough savvy to be able to choose.....thanks for your help!!!

God Bless...

-Enigma

 

ZoneAlarm tries to be as user friendly as you can get, even though I would not recommend it. Look 'n' Stop is a very straight forward, simple firewall that you will not notice running in the background. You can disable the application security until you get the hang of it as with any firewall providing such features. Outpost is a very nice firewall also and it comes with a lot of extras simular to ZoneAlarm (banner blocking, cookie/active x/java script/ect. protection). 8Signs is another nice firewall that seems to be very secure. Sygate is user friendly, but takes up more system resources than the others I have listed. Sygate also takes more knowledge to secure your computer. If I were you I would give each of them a try and use up the 30-day trials until you find one that you are most comfortable with. L 'n' S seems as it would suite your needs better since I view it as the most simple and secure overall.

 

I'd go for LnS. It's a great firewall and is being actively being developed/updated. It's the lightest firewall on resources and very configurable, along with being very secure (escpecially if using Phant-om's latest rule-set). It doesn't take that much to set up (although the interface might look a bit daunting at times), and once you have it set up you won't need to make any modifications unless required for new apps. It's very configurable too.

Don't waste your money on anything else.

 

If Frederic fixes L 'n' S up a little bit it could very well be considered the most secure pc firewall, or at least one of them. I am looking forward to how L 'n' S will evolve over the next few months. I am also keeping my eye on Jetico.

 

Thanks for the info., very good stuff!!! Well, I downloaded OutPost 2.5 (thanks again to the advice I found here)....and WOW....I liked the layout and level of security. I clicked the "test my pc" icon, and all ports were "stealthed". Even tried fireleaktester, and it proved worthy. I will stick with this one for now as it allows me to learn more about firewall security by the information provided. Packets? What are those? I also liked the flexibility of assigning programs than need to access the internet....boy, did I learn alot about which applications access without even knowing it....

Still learning though....and really appreciate the time you guys spend helping me and everyone else move forward. Ok, time to get some work done!! See ya!

-Enigma