Best Firewall that does not hog resources - Paid & Free Categories

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by crashnburn, Sep 7, 2007.

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  1. crashnburn

    crashnburn Registered Member

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    Location:
    TX
    I am looking to find the best firewall with a good balance of Quality / Features with it being not heavy on resources. It need not be the LIGHTEST or SMALLEST, but if its decent enough from that stand point.

    The last that I remember using a Personal Firewall was TinySoftware Firewall a LONG TIME AGO. I liked it back then - It was clean, light, efficient, fast... But ofcourse this was a LONG TIME ago. So lets update ourselves.

    Maybe we can use the following parameters (SOMEONE PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD MORE - At this point this is all that I could think of)

    1. Name
    2. Price - $$, Free, Shareware, ~Off topic comment removed.~
    3. Version
    4. Memory Footprint
    5. VM Footprint
    6. Typical CPU % / cycles
    7. Typical Slowdown of user experience
    8. Rules Management System
    9. Alert / Flagging System Score - True Positives v/s False Positives
    10. Overall user experience
    etc..

    I read 2 year old thread on firewalls here
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=94382 and I could not reply there so I had to create a more updated topic.

    ~Link to rogue site removed. Not recommended by Wilders. - Ron~

    Also read this 2007 review of personal firewalls. I have no idea how VALID it is, but I am adding it for reference.
     
  2. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    Although not the most feature packed version of Outpost Pro, I believe ver 2.7 (build 493/416) is one of their very best releases ever.

    1. Agnitum Outpost Pro
    2. $40.00 US
    3. 2.7 (Build 493/416)
    4. ~12 MB
    5. ~180 MB
    6. <2%
    7. virtually none.
    8. Excellent
    9. Excellent
    10. 9/10

    It runs light in memory footprint (~12 MB) but a little high in private bytes (~20 MB), <2% CPU cycles, affords fast browsing, great logging, rules are easily created, monitors component changes, and uses only one kernel mode hook. As is the same in all other versions, the plug-ins are nice, too. My overall experience with it is 9/10.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 9, 2007
  3. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

    Joined:
    May 9, 2005
    Posts:
    10,215
    Hello,

    1. Sygate
    2. 0
    3. 5.6.2808, some might say 5.5.2710, but I love 2808...
    4. About 5-15MB, including very heavy P2P
    5. Dunno
    6. No more than 5% even at 800+ connections, full download
    7. None
    8. Simple and beautiful
    9. None
    10. Perfect 10/10, only problem Symantec buggers bought and killed it, may they rot in cyberhell (14.4K dial-up, AOL browser ...)

    Perfectly stable, no conflicts, no crashes ever, no slowdown, excellent control of all network adapters (I got 7 on one machine), superb logging, simple and highly effective advanced rules (up to 10 in free version).

    No longer supported, but works like magic.

    Only drawback is that if you use a proxy, you lose outbound control for the applications running through it.

    Mrk
     
  4. Thanasis159

    Thanasis159 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2007
    Posts:
    86
    +1 but v.4 is also great!
     
  5. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2004
    Posts:
    10,639
    1. Look 'n' Stop
    2. $29
    3. 2.06
    4. ~4mb
    5. ~4mb
    6. Dont remember but its low.
    7. None
    8. Good
    9. Don't know
    10. 9/10
     
  6. Red Dawn

    Red Dawn Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2004
    Posts:
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    If you use Vista, enable outbound blocking, define your outbound rules, and bam, free, light, takes some time to learn how to confirgure the rules to what since you get no popup's on outbound rules, but it works just as good as any 3rd party software, once properly configured.
     
  7. Diver

    Diver Registered Member

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    Posts:
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    Location:
    Deep Underwater
    Same here.

    If you are running XP Comodo is the best bet overall. Not thelightest on memory, but no system slowdown. This light & low resources question keeps coming up. Memory is pretty cheap these days.
     
  8. zip

    zip Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2007
    Posts:
    359
    Location:
    Mars
    If you want true outbound firewall protection, use this to help manage Windows Vista's built-in firewall.

    Microsoft has been touting the new Windows Firewall in Windows Vista, which it says for the first time includes an outbound filter as well as an inbound filter. Outbound filters are important, because if you've been infected with a Trojan or similar software, it makes an outbound connection without your knowledge, letting someone else take control of your PC. Some malware can also turn your PC into a spam-spewing robot, sending out email without your knowledge.

    Unfortunately, the outbound filter in Windows Vista is, in essence, turned off by default. And as a practical matter, it's impossible to manually configure it to block malware making outbound connections. That's where the free VistaFirewallControl comes in. Install it, and whenever an application tries to access the Internet, a screen pops up, with the application name, the publisher, and similar information, as well its path and file name. You can enable or disable inbound or outbound connections it tries to make, either permanently, or just this one time.
    http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fi...ge,1-c,allfirewallsdownloads/description.html

    I recommend downloading it here so you'll have the latest version:
    http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/
     
  9. Red Dawn

    Red Dawn Registered Member

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    Jun 28, 2004
    Posts:
    116
    NOT true, once you enabled OUTBOUND protection, it won't allow anything to connect that doesn't have a rule setup for it. Keep in mind though, you won't get a popup when something tries to connect, like most 3rd party firewall apps do. You will have to know what programs you wish to give outbound net access to, and setup the rule for each program. Can be tricky at first, but once done, again, it's just as good as any 3rd party app, free, and light..

    Vista firewall control though is a great option, as I posted about in another thread, that 1 should try if creating rules is an issue for you. It's free and easy to use..
     
  10. wat0114

    wat0114 Guest

    This is my reasoning to some extent, but not nearly as much as it used to be. I now hold to the premise expressed by a number of members in this forum that once you get infected, it's game over anyways. It is far better just to keep the malware out of your system, rather than let it in and execute, and then try to deal with damage control measures after the fact. This is why firewalls with a battery of leak control options don't matter to me as much any more.
     
  11. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    Oct 5, 2004
    Posts:
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    Yep, it's an endless game, and a job perhaps better left to the HIPS programs anyway. I've always preferred a simpler firewall myself... My attitude is, I will run something that will hopefully detect a problem, but I don't rely on anything to clean up the mess. If and when something ever hits me, then it's restore from image time for me..
     
  12. YeOldeStonecat

    YeOldeStonecat Registered Member

    Joined:
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    Posts:
    2,345
    Location:
    Along the Shorelines somewhere in New England
    Some linux distro routers such as Endian, IPCop with Copfilter, or Untangle. :thumb:

    They don't bog down your PC at all..run on their own hardware.
     
  13. halcyon

    halcyon Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 14, 2003
    Posts:
    373
    Won't repeat the Look n stop data, but will say that it is lighter than Agnitum, Comodo, Sygate. By far. No contest. In case that is important.
     
  14. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    Oct 5, 2004
    Posts:
    8,013
    If you're talking about the old original Tiny Personal Firewall, then yes, it was extremely light, rules based, and got the job done. The later Tiny Firewall and Pro versions were not light at all, in fact they were rather heavy, although the features were numerous and light years ahead of the old Tiny.

    If you liked the old Tiny original, then probably what you want is Kerio 2.1.5, which is more or less the original Tiny but developed a little further. It's very light, rule based again, and does what you want if you do your rules right. Free also. You can still find it around, if you Google a little I'm sure you can locate a working link.
     
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