Outpost Firewall Pro 2008... any good?

I Just noticed Outpost released Firewall Pro 2008 for Vista. Anyone have this running on their Vista rigs yet? Does it have a small footprint? And how does it compare to other products in its class?

 

In my opinion, Outpost Pro 2008, the latest release, is stable, fast and has some features not found in freeware such as Comodo for example Web Control (Ad Blocking), Attack Detection module (recognises and blocks known network attacks) and Antispyware

Like Comodo, it has a built in HIPS that can detect actions like driver loading, autostart entries added etc.

On the downside, on my pc it is using 48 Mb of RAM (2 processes: 30 + 18 ). This is the best software firewall money can by and such with so many features, it is not exactly a lightweight "pure" firewall. But for the security enthusiasts among us, this firewall satisfies those firewall cravings.

Edit: Now easier to read.

 

to me is a bloatware , need 60mb to run
better comodo , passed all the tests better then outpost
and need 6mb to work

and i'm a huge outpost fan

 

slow & buggy, designed to pass leaktests, not designed to run well on any system

 

I know it didn't run well on mine. Which is the reason I tried Comodo

 

I am using Outpost Security Suite 2008, latest version. I works quit well on my Windows XP SP2 system. I can't say much about how it runs on Vista. I do know some folks are having problems and others are not. You might want to try browsing the Outpost Users Support Forum

 

I'm confused.
1. Outpost Firewall Pro 2008 with AntiSpyware, I know this already.
2. Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 without AntiSpyware ?
http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/download.php
Which one of them is continued in the future ?

 

Hello ErikAlbert,

Outpost Firewall 4.0 does come with AS, the difference being that its a plugin that can be disabled or removed via OPF 4.0's main GUI. OPF 2008's AS module is builtin and cannot be removed, although it can be disabled, an option I miss in the 2008 products. I prefer to use OPF 4.0 myself.

Support (ie product updates) for OPF 4.0 is now discontinued, the last version available is 4.0.1025.7828 (700).

 

Thanks Rickster and I agree with you. OFP2008 looks like a 2/3 Security Suite to me and I don't use scanners anymore.
I used Outpost Firewall a long time ago and the GUI has been changed alot since then.
Tomorrow I'm going to install Outpost Firewall 4.0.

 

Hi there erik,

I have been using outpost pro since version 2 and I was using outpost pro 4 for about 1 year and it worked ok for nearly 1 year until I had issues with outpost pro 4 using 50% cpu for about 40 minutes on startup of my system and also going online the same 50%cpu usage as well, tried a fresh install but that did not work and no changes were made to my system to cause this issue either, but now I am using OFP 6 latest version and even though there are still many more improvements to make to the latest version, I must say that on my system it works brilliant very low impact as well. no issues to report so far or bsod, I must say I for one am very pleased with the latest version, even though there is still lots to improve on it, but what do you expect with a complete rewrite I suppose.
Many others do complain of different issues but thats to be expected, but for me I am very happy indeed and no more high cpu usage either, op mon.exe uses about 4 to 6 mb on average and acs.exe uses about 20 to 30mb on average and when you have 2gb of memory it makes no impact whatsoever.
I hope this little bit of info is of use to you.

THE MUL

 

Hi,

Outpost 6 has started badly because lot of bugs. Bugs disappear release after release ,gradually. Until now, I had some BSOD but since the latest version (which is a pre-release beta V6.0(2309.282.503.303)), I have no problem. Used intensively with p2p, MSN, email, FTP client at the same time, and the PC running for more than 48 hours non-stop, no problem. And no slowdown with the p2p, which is still too rare. . Even in 2008.

On this version, the ‘BlockPost’ is back.
I have disabled the antispyware and the web control. I regret that these functions are no longer as plugins and could not be chosen in the install, but …, this is the firewall that suits me.
Too bad that so many people critic Outpost. . They have certainly good reasons.

When I see so many people admiring Comodo firewall , speaking security and when I see screenshots with the “Allow all” to each rules.. . Mmhhh.

 

"Allow all" is for the outbound connections on the network level. Due to SPI, any unsolicited inbound will be stopped here.
Outbound for each application is controled on the application level by restricting/filtering the exe itself. If stopped here, the request will never get to the network level and the "allow all" rule won't be utilized.
Nothing is wrong there, this is just how Comodo works.

otoh, it is possible that you may of seen "allow all" rules on the application level. In that case, they are there due to users' inability in make a proper ruleset.

To reply on topic -
I ran Outpost 6 (dunno the build right now) on Vista for a month or so as I noticed many complaints on bugs and bloatness. I had it in a DMZ loaded with few hundred connections, but never saw a single issue. It was even pretty light - in terms of system/network performance impact. Yes, it has many unneeded (to me) features (blockpost is not one of them), but besides that, I have nothing bad to say about this firewall. As a comparison, Comodo 3 (latest build) lasted barely for a few hours here.

 

Hello solaris...
Just where is the "blockpost back"?.I just installed 2008 (ive had a lifetime licence since v 1) ,and cant see any bockpost plugin there.
tia
ellison

 

Hello,

I installed OFPv4 first and everything was fine, but during shutdown/restart, I always got "End Program ..."-messages.
Agnitum suggested to install UPHclean utility, but already had that utility and it's running according Task Manager.

So I uninstalled OFPv4 and installed OFPv6 (2008 ) and my shutdown/restart was OK.
I don't like the Anti-Spyware part, I disabled it, but that doesn't reduce the space.
I don't use any scanners anymore.
OFP = 2/3 security suite without AV, something like ZoneAlarm Pro.

Why didn't Agnitum create a pure firewall and provide options to add an AS and/or AV, if the users want this ?
That would have been a good solution with a free choice.
I'm not sure, if I'm going to keep it after the trial is finished.

 

Hi ellison64,

a lifetime licence ? Lucky man !

Currently, the version with the 'Blockpost' (and which will surely with another name) is only in beta. There is one (or more) beta before each official release . You must be registered as a beta tester to download the beta. It happens a few weeks between a beta and release version, so I think we should see the release soon.

100% agree

 

Thanks for that information.That is one of the plugins that i always found useful when i used outpost.Im retrying it again,although i still had outpost not detecting my lan properly(it detected an address starting with 69. or 169. or something like that rather than 192.Anyway its detected it now so trialing it again on w2000.Had to remove avast network provider however that wasnt a problem and i cant say ive ever seen that module actually go into action anyway.It automatically disabled realtime antispyware,because of avasts anti spyware (i guess) which was a good thing.So far no issues (apart from the initial lan detection).I miss sygates network traffic arrows though
ellison

 

for me the last version of outpost is a nightmare
buggy and bloody slow

 

Hi everybody! First time posting on this forum. I recently un-installed OPF pro 2008 v6.etc. I found that it was conflicting with NOD32 (which I will not give up) and severely slowed my internet connection. Yes it is a great firewall if you are willing to give up a few things (about 45mb ram , compatibility with many a-v's and just a general slowdown of my entire system).
I even tried installing it on a second rig I just built and it did not work with avast home v4.8 and still caused problems even with AntiVir personal edition. I'm really sorry I paid for this and now have nowhere to install it. Maybe on it's own with Clam a-v (no resident scanner)?
My system is a P4 2.26ghz, 1gb RAM, XP Home SP2, NOD32 v3, now using Jetico v1 (great firewall), EMSI Mamutu, WinPatrol v14 and PeerGuardian2. Non-resident protection from a-squared free, ad-aware 2007 free, Spybot S&D, Spyware Blaster, and SuperAntiSpyware free.
Don't get me wrong. Outpost is an excellent firewall, but the performance hit is too severe.

 

Indeed, previous versions used on my PC used between 30 and 35Mo.
Efforts were apparently made in the last two betas (not yet in release).

After 24 hours using Outpost, here is what I have.



(In fact, there may be fluctuations in the size but decrease systematically. So, the allocated memory is well managed).
It's hoped that for the next release.

But again, I don't really see the big problem about softs using 20-30-40 MB for PCs which have now 1Go, 2Go or more.
Even with 512Mo, the soft can allocate a little memory resource for primary applications like antivirus and firewall.

 

It should work merrily with avast provided you uninstall the "network shield" module using add/remove programs to customise avast.Ive never seen the network shield actually do anything so not a big loss really.
ellison

 

In response to ellison 64, you are correct. When I tried to install outpost with avast the installer explained how to disable the network shield (very helpful). So I will kindly retract my statement about compatibility issues with avast.
I would like to add 1 extra note. I recently installed XP SP3 and did find compatibility issues with Mamutu. My system hung on every boot until I stopped the Mamutu service in safe mode. Hope EMSI fixes this because I really like the little program.
In response to the previous poster about RAM usage, you are also correct. With 1GB or more on your system it should be no problem. The real problem I had with Outpost was my internet connection speed. I am on Broadband cable 5mb per second connection speed and with Outpost installed could not get above 3.75mb per second. When I installed Jetico, my connection speed went to it's intended rate. This could be an ISP issue I know but when I installed Outpost on a second computer I have (Dell P4 2ghz, 51mb RAM, Avira AntiVir personal, Windows Defender on XP SP2), I got the same speed issues.
I'm no expert but if I get the same or similar results on 2 different systems, then I have to look at the common factors. Xp SP2? Doubtful. Outpost? Probable.