What's the lowest resource-using free "Heavy Firewall" out there?

well as the title says i'm looking for one of those free relatively "heavy firewalls" (such as kerio or za free, or any other good one) that run lowest in resource usage compared to others. if anybody could post a name (or names) with an approximate number on how much memory it uses i would be greatful. oh, and also add in if it affects internet speed at all. many thanks to those who participate.

 

ZA free max of 17mb on my system, pro goes up to 22mb.

 

My suspicion is that Kerio 2.1.5 is the lightest. I have used it for several years on my old computer, and it never gave any problems, I did not have hacker problems, and in fact never knew it was there.

I don't know what it used in the way of resources, but my old computer only had 256 megs of memory, if that means anything to know about the machine.

Jerry

 

What do you mean by "heavy firewall"?

 

sorry, wasn't really looking for kerio 2.1.5, but thanks anyway...and brinn, what i basically meant was something that uses relatively high resources and provides extensive, good protection a firewall basically should. (i.e ZA or kerio)

 

sounds to me that you're looking for jetico...

 

Sounds to me that you are looking for ZA 6 or Kerio 4.2.3

ZA runs at late teens in RAM useage and Kerio runs early-mid twenties on my PC.

 

Jetico runs at 7-8 !

 

khazars: You forgot to write, that Jetico runs on MAXIMUM 7-8 MB For exapmle, now, on my computer it uses about 6 MB. And it falls to 3-4 MB really often (with default log size of course).
IMHO it is "fastest" personall firewall (that I have used so far), with many features and very stable. I managed to crash it (in fact, not only Jetico, but whole system) only with GHOST setted to use Jetico PID.
And i do not agree with negative opinions about its interface. After reading the manual and using JPF for several days, it GUI becamem for me clerer, more logical and more friendly then for ex. GUI used in Outpost Pro or Sunbelt.
(Please forgive mistakes that i have probably done; my english is poor.)

Paul

 

I agree completely. I'm a happy user (since 2 months).

 

heavy firewall=heavy water

 

Don't forget these 'heavy' freebies:

Netveda Safety.Net
http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm

Filseclab Personal Firewall
http://www.filseclab.com/eng/products/firewall.htm

If you're looking for a high degree of component control (and lots of alerts) Netveda or Jetico may be options for you. Otherwise Filseclab is great for rule making and realtime logging with basic app control.

 

yes Rostek I agree, mine is sometimes running at 4MB but usually it's 7-8 MB.

I also think Jetico is quiet once it's configured, compared to antihook it's a sleeping ***** cat as antihook stomps on anyhting that moves!

I really don't know why people keep complaing that Jetico is "too noisy" all I do when I install any new firewall is to introduce it to all the programmes which need internet access and then let it rip! That helps to get rid of most of the pop ups in the first half hour or so, I always did this with kerio 2.1.5 and sygate!

I have also set up proxomitron, privoxy, sockscap, tor and JAP to run with Jetico and used paranoid's outpost firewall ruleset and adapted them for Jetico!

 

Ah. I tend towards the barebones type of firewall (eg. CHX, Ghostwall) but I have been keeping an eye on CoreForce. It's more of a complete security package rather than a firewall alone. Sorry I don't have a link handy right now.

 

I'd say give Netveda a try. I've had some horrid problems recently with firewalls. ZA Free died and wouldn't allow me to connect through IE or use Outlook, although i could get my security application's updates! Next i tried Kerio 4 but it kept causing BSOD's. Then i tried Outpost Pro and found using it kept causing that white screen to come up in IE, the one that says no connection could be found and to check my settings. Then 30 seconds later everything ok. Kept doing it though, so gave up on it in the end. So then i decided to try KIS 2006 with it's integrated firewall. That thing kept switching itself off at random. I had got to the point where i was going to re-install Sygate but then decided to try Netveda Safety.Net. It's running great. Full stealth at GRC, Sygate and PCFlank(although i don't wholey trust PCFlanks tests like i do the other two). It has parental controls, you can block cookies and active code, referrers, disable mail attachments for specific file types and more besides. It runs fast as well. using currently as i type this two processes, one is 7mb the other 8mb with the max they have used at 8mb each. At the moment this is a nice firewall to use.

muf

 

hmm interesting input on the other software + netvada. i'm just a bit curious about netvada though, is it easy to configure? and also does it slow the internet speed at all? (if it DOES, then rate it either as: barely (basically almost no effect), a little bit, a bit, quite a bit, a lot) anyone also have screenshots of it? i've tried the site out but couldn't find any. i've heard its good but also still filled with a few problems for some people as well as its current version being extremely outdated. any more suggestions would be nice

 

I don't find it slows my browsing down. Unlike Outpost which was a mare. It's as quick as anything else i've used except Kerio 2.1.4 which was an extremely basic firewall. Regarding how easy it is to set up and use. I don't consider myself good with setting up firewalls, but this was easy.

There is a review here and a screenshot.
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/NetVeda_Safety-Net/netvadanet.html

Also, download.com have some very encouraging user reviews. Although they can be faked, i have found my experience to be similar to the majority of the users comments on there.
http://www.download.com/NetVeda-Safety-Net/3000-10435_4-10382920.html?tag=lst-0-1

muf

 

ah thanks for the input there muf, but for now we'll see what everybody else thinks for now on other products...although netveda seems quite convincing right now

EDIT: if there are any compatibility issues with netveda or any other product without a list, please post it. and also i don't like jetico that much, so could any other ones be suggested?

 

Hi, for me "jetico" is very light in resources, in the moment I'm writing this is 3.940 kb. very good, isn´t it?

 

Netveda is using about 17-18 mb on my system.
I tried sygate 5.6 2808 today and it's using about 11 mb. As speedy as netveda.
Both are very good. I was really surprised that, at least on my system, sygate is actually running lighter.

 

Try here.