Still using Kerio 2.1.5 personal firewall!

I have used Kerio 2.1.5 personal firewall for years now. But its' time to move up to Win 7 64 bit and I am not sure if this version of Kerio will run on this new system! Can anybody enlighten me here?

 

It will not work. Kerio 2.1.5 was good for it's era, but it's era will remain Windows XP. For Windows 7, the default Windows Firewall is good enough for decent protection. With a little adjustements it can be configured to make your PC safer.

 

I too used kerio 2.1.5 for a long time. My suggestion is to use the built in windows 7 firewall.

I have the firewall only for the inbound connection attempts. I did forget my connections paranoias after i moved to win 7 and all just works well.

 

Kerio wont work on windows 7 but its a Funny old world innit??.The factory where i work gave two of its old pcs to two of the lads.They were quite a decent spec, though old hardware.IBM PC pentium 4 3 ghz ,and 2 gig of ram.Hard drive size was 35 gig.They came with xp pro.I cleaned them up for the lads ,got rid of the domain logins ,etc ,and multiple administrators and thier baggage.Having used windows 7 since it came out (vista previous) i had forgotten just how fast xp was.I put kerio 2.15 on them ,also kingsoft av2012 ,and kingsoft pc doctor,and chrome browser.I also put on one of my old favourites ...naviscope .I was in heaven ,the speed was ridiculous,and i actually was sad when i took the machines back to work for the lads.Im now typing this on my windows 7 laptop ,and seriously contemplating sticking xp on and having fun with all those progs i loved but no longer work.Damn i forgot computing ,could be such a pleasure .

 

I haven't and don't plan to "upgrade" to Win 7 or 8. Since I'm staying with XP and older versions of Windows, Kerio 2.1.5 remains my firewall of choice. The more I work with using other browsers and chaining web filtering apps like Proxomitron and Socks proxies with Tor, the more I value Kerio's ability to control loopback traffic on a per application and per port level. That ability is invaluable for preventing the bypassing of the chain and forcing all traffic through Tor. I'm not sure that the Win 7 firewall is capable of that level of control, especially of the loopback traffic.

 

The saddest thing with Win7, is exactly the lack of possibility to use some old, ultralight firewalls, like Kerio 2 or Ghost Firewall, PC Tools free, Ashampoo Firewall free or pre-bloat ZA versions. Sygate was nice too except heavy in p2p...

Ah, the golden era of firewalls...

 

Nice nostalgia in this thread... makes me wanna roast some marshmallows over an open fire, tell ghost stories and such.

You guys didn't have to make the switch to 7 yet. You could have enjoyed the good ol' days until XP's EOL in April of 2014. I know I plan to.

And quite frankly I'm even considering hanging onto it until I see there's a major vulnerability that would put me at risk without a patch. I know there are some people still running SP2, which hasn't been patched in quite awhile now, doing just fine.

 

There's no "could have enjoyed" to it. I am and do enjoy my "obsolete" operating systems. 2014 won't change a thing.

Unpatched vulnerabilities don't mark the end of an operating systems usable life. Most vulnerabilities can be mitigated with a configuration change, a strong security policy or a well configured security app. A large percentage of these vulnerabilities are for Internet Explorer and can be completely eliminated by getting rid of IE.

That's been a repeating story for a long time. I've been converting XP units to dual and multi-boot, usually with a modified 98SE and Linux. Compared to the 98 system on the same hardware, the XP install feels so slow. With the possible exception of Win 7 being lighter than Vista (what isn't?), operating systems have been steadily getting heavier and slower. The new more powerful hardware just makes them feel like they're faster. When an older OS is put on the most powerful hardware that it can fully utilize and equipped with good lightweight applications (like Kerio 2.1.5), the speed is amazing. XP might "officially" die in 2014 for the average user. For those who really like XP, it will live a lot longer, especially when the unofficial upgrades start appearing and giving it capabilities that MS reserved for their more current systems.

 

I moved to Win7 in order to have 8 GB RAM and also liked the weather gadget and ability to change wallpapers without external software. Also support for newer CPUs is better in Win7 and more easygoing on USB devices.

Other than that, i have tweaked the Win7 visual effect options, in order to look nice, but to have windows respond quickly as in XP.

I intend to make Win7 my new XP, not a chance that i will install win8. We ll see about 9.

 

Yeah 7 seems like a decent enough OS, and you can make it look & feel like XP to a large degree.

Heck, I make XP look & feel like older OS's (2K/98se), by using classic view wherever I can, disabling themes, disabling the welcome screen, etc... Not just for looks. It runs lighter that way.

And yeah, those "visual effects" options can make a TON of difference. I have only 3 things checked on the list. They're all checked by default, lol.

 

Where can I get my hands on these "unofficial upgrades"?...

 

Most unofficial upgrades and patches for unsupported operating systems are developed by small groups of individuals. A lot of them are at the MSFN forum. I don't know how much is being worked on for XP at present. It's not my primary OS. There's quite a bit there for Win 2000 and even more for 98/ME. In the 9X member projects section, there have been a lot of requests for porting the tools and upgrades to NT systems. With the KernelEx project, a 2K version is being developed. As popular as XP is, I have no doubt that the development of unofficial patches and improvements for XP will take off once official support completely ends. Most unofficial upgrades are not "install and forget" during their early development. They're for users who like to get their hands dirty. After they're worked on for a while, then they get more suited to the less adventurous user.

 

Yeah,Win7 with all the visual bells and whistles seems much slower than XP, for the simple fact that all the "smooth drags, scrolls,shadows"etc, make all explorer operations look smooth, but... slow. So i have 11 visual effects enabled, which keep all the Win7 eye-candy, but for the rest emulate the snappiness i had in XP. I had tweaked XP's visual effects too, but don't remember them anymore.

Anyway, XP is legendary.

 

With the help of new third party security programs of sand boxing, visualization and execution blocking, perhaps any such vulnerabilities will be compensated for and can be ignored—XP will continue to live on!

IMHO Xp should be a better host OS for VMware or Virtual box running guest operating systems as it is not encumbered with all the bells & whistles of it's successors that tend to complicate, slow things down and use more resources—taking away from what is available to guest OS under VVM. I wonder if any VMM software run's under DOS for that matter! You could run any guest OS through VMM that itself runs from DOS—Food for thought!

 

lolz

 

I don't know if any can run from DOS but there is a Pre-Microsoft version of VPC, that runs on a 98 and can run XP as a guest. It was made by Connectix, version 5.1. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the current MS versions, but it can do some things that the MS versions can't. Linux based CDs like GParted and the Acronis rescue CD run on it, and open up a whole range of possibilities. A bit more food for thought.

 

Good lookin out on that MSFN forum. Once official support stops for XP I'll give it a look. I agree that XP can live on just fine with 3'rd party measures like VM, Sandboxie, HIPS (D+), Backup/Imaging (Macrium Reflect). Heck, you're always a closed browser or a reboot away from a clean system again. Front line barricades like NoScript. System hardening & most of all, end user know how. I don't think XP is going anywhere for me for quite awhile.

Also maybe when that 2014 date draws near they'll push it back a bit because they realize so many are still using it. Especially IT people at businesses that call saying: "OMG, I can't switch all these systems over right now. You're going to END US if you do this!" That may buy us an extra year of official support.

It's my favorite OS of all time. I never got to use 2K much because I went right from 98SE (which I loved) to XP SP2. But I hear great things about it too.

 

They have done some amazing things for the older versions of Windows, especially 98. The KernelEx project opened a lot of peoples eyes to what was possible. The 2K version is much more recent and will probably be the basis for an XP equivalent. Spend a bit of time there, especially in the 98 section, even if you don't use 98. Some of the work there is dismantling Microsofts planned obsolescence and the resulting DLL hell they created. Most everything there that doesn't port existing MS files will be or is Open Source.

Contrary to what MS and others claim, all of the earlier versions of Windows can do just fine with the available tools. Support is a good thing but it's also very overrated. Kerio 2.1.5 hasn't been supported in ages, but on the operating systems it's compatible with, it's an excellent firewall. SSM isn't supported any more, but on XP and older systems, it's one of the strongest security apps available. Together, Kerio and SSM are a near bulletproof combination. Too many equate age and support with weakness or being vulnerable, an attitude that's promoted by those who profit from selling the new. Even though my XP unit is very well equipped and tightly secured, most of the time I'm using 98, especially if I'm browsing in unknown or potentially malicious territory.

That very thing happened with 98. The backlash convinced them to backed off of their position and 98 support was extended. A lot more people use XP than used 98. Even when 98 was at its peak, most households didn't have PCs. XP changed that and made PCs a common household item.

2K was is a good OS. Like you, I haven't used it much. Usually it runs in a virtual environment when I do. By the time I get done stripping down XP, it's very much like 2K.

 

Does Kerio 2.1.5 have IPv6 packet filtering capability? Thanks.

 

No, it does not. Kerio is limited to either allowing IPv6 or blocking it outright.

 

OK, so it's an on/off rule. Thanks a lot!

I guess many actively used personal firewalls are not IPv6-capable.

 

XP here and happy with it. Kerio runs on one box. Sunbelt - just packet filter, just like Kerio, on another.
I wonder if Kerio+SSM+Opera all tightened up is sufficient or is AV or web scans still needed.

 

I've run Kerio, SSM, and Proxomitron with SeaMonkey on both XP and 98 for the last 6 years or so, without an AV. For enforcing a default-deny security policy, they are more than adequate.