What's the best FREE 2-way Firewall for Vista?

What's the best FREE 2-way Firewall for Vista please, that is also the lighest on RAM and resources.

I run Vista on a 1GB RAM Laptop and cannot run any heavy Firewall. So a light one that is easy on RAM and resources and that supports 2-way protection would be great.

I tried COMODO but it's very heavy on my Laptop.

Any other FREE ones?

Thank you.

 

The inbuilt vista firewall is in fact two way though its interface is not too friendly. You can access it from startmenu and type windows firewall into the instant search and click on the option that has 'advanced configuration'.

There is a program called vista control firewall and from what I've read, it is actually a better interface into the vista firewall so you might want to give that a try.

Otherwise there is alway LnS for plain packet filtering or Jetico if you want some of the HIPS features in comodo.

Cheers
Jeremy

 

You might find something that meets your criteria in this thread.

 

Well, you already paid for it so I guess it's free. Only kidding.

If you are not a rules guy in the sense of needing to add advance rules of your own I suggest just using the built in vista FW.

That way you don't add pressure to your laptop.

But you will have to activate the 2 way control since Gates didn't deam that to be a worthy default. Why vendors of security SF pick weak options for the masses I'll never understand.

If you want a third party FW this thread already mentions some.

Good luck.

PS do you have a router in front?

 

Although it's been mentioned, I'm surprised more people don't mention Vista Firewall Control.
http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/index.html

You couldn't get a more simple, and easy to use firewall.

By default, it disables any new attempted connection. Once prompted, you can 'disable all', 'enable all', allow only 'incoming', or only 'outgoing'.

You can then either 'always apply' the settings, or 'apply only once'.

It's free too.

 

Hi


What about... PC Tools Firewall Plus

That's what I'm using - No Problems!

PC Tools Website : http://www.pctools.com/

* Inbound & Outbound Protection

* Not too complicated to use

* Light

* Free!

PC Tools Firewall Plus : http://www.pctools.com/firewall/


Note!
When you install PC Tools Firewall Plus ... You will be asked if you also want to install Threatfire.
Threatfire is free too!
Just make sure the box is unticked if you don't want Threatfire.


Hope This Helps!

Almost Forgot To Mention... My Computer Is - Vista Home Premium

 

Zone Alarm is still a very good firewall although Vista is a two way firewall.

Leak tests will tell you the Vista Firewall is still allowing some connections out.

Zone Alarm free firewall hard to find on the web site so here is a link
http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

 

Onlime Armor is currently in beta for Vista and is already looking like a winner - http://www.tallemu.com

 

+1

I agree, simpliest thing to use.

edit://Although can someone explaint what "Low HDD activity (disables Run/Ext/RouterSync and Allow Once) is?

 

For vista32
Vista FireWall Control free with LUA (at least in quiet mode) and ThreatFire free (to obtain D+ protection in a user friendly way)

For Vista64
I have to give comodo the credits of best freefirewall

 

Yes I have a modem router.

And I installed the FREE ZA version. It's a 2 way FW isn't it?

 

The free Vista Firewall Control does not support System/Core application protection, making it useless!

To get System/Core application protection you need to pay for the Plus version.

 

But it won't be free.

 

Vista Firewall Control doesn't control any aspect of the Vista built-in firewall. Unfortunately, there is still no third party interface available for the Vista firewall.

 

The Online Armor Firewall is more of an Alpha release at this stage of the game. So expect some crashes and bugs while playing with it. You can ask for a trial license to test the Vista version in the OA forum.

Sunbelt Firewall has a beta for Vista too. I played with it for a little bit w/out major problems.

Zonealarm has another beta version of their suite. It has a totally different look compared to the current version.

 

I am using the free verison of ZA on Vista now. So what do you mean ZA has a beta version for Vista?

In fact the ZA website says, "Only install ZoneAlarm 7.1 or above on Vista."

So ZA 7.1 works on Vista.

 

ZoneAlarm has an open beta program for the Suite. It has a new interface and they have the ZA Suite with the ZoneAlarm Force Field included.

http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/beta/zabeta.html