Any firewall that lists rules like Kerio 2.1.4?

Discussion in 'other firewalls' started by doveman, Jan 22, 2013.

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  1. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    Have you tried windows firewall control.....?
     
  2. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    It's pretty much the same as v5, see the screenshot in my second post here for comparison:

    https://forums.comodo.com/wishlist-cis/improve-presentation-of-firewall-rules-list-t84906.0.html

    I've just got the sub-folders under each app expanded in that screenshot so you can see the rules and as I discuss/moan about in the third post, they've moved the buttons and headers around but fundamentally it's just the same.
     
  3. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    It certainly looks interesting thanks, I'll give it a go.
     
  4. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    Don't you worry about outgoing traffic though, which the router can't block/filter can it?

    From the screenshots I've seen of Look N Stop it actually looks more limited and less like Kerio in terms of the information it shows in the rules list, compared to Filseclab. Although Filseclab hasn't been updated since 2005, Look N Stop hasn't been maintained for 3-4 years either so there's probably not a good reason to pay for the latter rather than use Filseclab for free but I'll test it for myself anyway to be sure.
     
  5. act8192

    act8192 Registered Member

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    If for XP, Sunbelt's latest is free and is abandonware which is just fine for a firewall
    www.sunbeltsoftware.com/support/vc/SPF.4.7.5.0.exe
    All rules on one page as in Kerio, logging as in Kerio, alerts as in Kerio, and on the main packet filter GUI screen log and alert settings exist making it simple and quick to change, plus you can make IP groups such as LocalHost or DNS servers or gateways or MyFavoriteWebsites ...
    Rule.jpg
    Annoyance is that unlike in Kerio their rules on the screen take up much space due to repeating Port:x, Port:y, or Group:a Group b .... Kerio would just list the few ports 80,443, here they'll have "Port:" in front of each.
    Local host monitoring is excellent, important if you use AV with a proxy port (Avast, Avira...)
    All you have to do is shut off what you don't want to use, and just allow the Packet Filter to rule the world. Their behavior screen (what starts what) is excellent, so I use it as well if I don't use SSM.

    I order rules mostly by use - first system rules, then app rules and those I have in alpha order and can move'm up and down like in Kerio.
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2013
  6. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    Sounds great but I'm running Win7 x64 now unfortunately. That's probably why I had to abandon Kerio but even on XP it started causing BSOD (not just for me) so it wasn't usable anymore.

    Probably Sunbelt is fine being abandonware on XP as Microsoft aren't doing updates for XP anymore but with Windows 7, I guess it only takes an update to cause the firewall to stop working/throw up constant errors/crash the system and if it's abandonware you'd probably have to uninstall it and look for an alternative.
     
  7. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    Yeah, I couldn't get along with that. The interface itself was OK as I recall but Windows Firewall is so confusing and when something wasn't working (LAN game I think) I had to go and look at the rules in Windows Firewall directly and it just made no sense to me.
     
  8. ichito

    ichito Registered Member

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    One year ago it was possible to update Filseclab FW just from programm, but already in previous year not. I wrote to support and gave answer from Christine Liang with link do update pack...after update we can have v. 3.03.8982 (as I remeber dated on 2008 ) instead of 3.00.8686 from installer.
     
  9. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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    Nope, not at all.. :)
     
  10. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

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  11. Kerodo

    Kerodo Registered Member

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  12. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

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    Interesting. After reading the entire thread, the only two famous/good performing standalone software firewalls for Windows that the OP may not have tried yet seem to be SpyShelter Firewall and Outpost Firewall.

    http://spyshelter.com/firewall

    http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/index.php

    Can't think about any other.

    BTW, isn't active support and development more important than anything else when it comes to security products such as firewalls? Just in case the OP is considering a return to Kerio for the sake of usability... that would be a somewhat risky move IMO.
     
  13. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    Thanks for the suggestions. Outpost is no good as it doesn't show a rules list but just a Network and Anti-Leak indicator next to each app and you have to go into the Rules Editor to see the actual rule for each app. I'll take a look at SpyShelter Firewall though. I've used SpyShelter Free before but that doesn't include the Firewall and I didn't realise they did a paid-for product with one.

    Don't worry, I'm not planning to return to Kerio and I'm not even sure it works on Win7 x64. Whether a firewall actually needs to be actively updated is debatable (and probably depends partly on whether it's "just" a firewall or if it's doing other stuff like process detection, HIPS, etc) but yes, ideally I'd use something that's not abandonware.
     
  14. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    I've tested Netveda Safety.Net now and that was no good as it doesn't even appear to have an Applications rulelist.

    Likewise with SpyShelter, which I like a lot for it's other protection but as far as a Firewall it just appears to auto-create rules but there's no way to see a list of those rules or edit them or manually add application rules.

    Netstalker is interesting but only allows filtering on port/address, not by application.

    So it looks like Filseclab is the winner for me, unless something new comes along. You never know, maybe someone will buy the source code for that and update it without messing up what's great about it! I just need to make a note of my rules in Comodo before uninstalling it so that I don't have to spend time trying to remember what rules I should add in Filseclab.

    I might try TinyWall on another PC. I don't think it's for me as I had a lot of trouble getting LAN gaming working with Windows Firewall but it might be good for my brother who just needs something to protect his single PC.
     
  15. MasterTB

    MasterTB Registered Member

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    The firewall in Eset Smart Security has almost identical layout to Kerio. I know because I used both. It even lets you customize the rules from the pop up itself (you have to be running in Interactive mode).
    Give it a try. You have 30 day trials available.
     
  16. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    Thanks for the tip, I'll bear it in mind but as it's £30/year I'll probably just stick with Filseclab for now.
     
  17. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    kaspersky only cost me £19.maybe you could give that a try.
     
  18. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    Says £40 for 1 PC for 1 year for me on their website but on Amazon it's £25 for 3 users for 1 year, £25 for 1 user for 1 year and £20 for the 2012 version so I can probably get it for about the same as you paid. I'll give the trial version a go and see if I like it enough to pay for it anyway.

    To be honest, whilst I might stomach paying £20 for 1 year and accepting I won't get any updates or support after that year, I don't like the idea of the product not working after that time so if that's how Kaspersky or Eset operate I think that would rule them out for me. As they're all-in-one security suites I can see why they require an active license to update the anti-virus and so on but all I want is a decent firewall which probably won't need updating and certainly isn't worth paying £20 a year for as far as I'm concerned.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2013
  19. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    I purchased kaspersky from argos.:thumb:
     
  20. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    I hope the developer of Tinywall continues it's development. Its hard to find good packet filter Firewalls without the bloat. If he makes it highly configurable, and adds logging then I would be sure to use it. I know he wants to keep it simple, but he could appeal to the tech community by making it highly configurable as far as creating packet filter rules. The tech community will be the ones to use his Firewall first, and promote it to the masses. He wants to keep it simple so the average non tech user is not burdened with pop ups, but maybe it could be preconfigured by default to be very simple. Have a more advanced mode to give more options for the more advanced users.
     
  21. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    Ultim has not been on this forum for a few months now.Great little add on for windows firewall too.:thumb:
     
  22. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    I don't know if this problem was fixed since but the changelog for TinyWall v2 says

    "Better support for Windows Networking, Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance
    This is the only feature that I regret I cannot do better. The focus is on the word "Better". It is now at least possible to use these Windows features with TinyWall, but after each start Windows might ask you to redo some of its settings. In my own defence, it really is not my fault but some freaky Microsoft design decision. It is again out of scope but ask and I'll tell you more."

    which unfortunately would make it unsuitable to be installed on a non-techie's PC.
     
  23. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    Dammit, I didn't realise Filseclab doesn't work with Win 7 (x64 anyway).

    I decided I'd move from Comodo to Filseclab so uninstalled Comodo. I had to run the installer in XP compatibility mode to get it to install and then re-booted, only for it to tell me that the driver couldn't load.

    I also no longer had any internet connectivity, even after uninstalling Filseclab and rebooting again so I had to restore from a True Image backup in the end, which was no big deal as I'd done that shortly before installing Filseclab so I didn't lose anything.

    Just a shame as it seems I'm stuck with Comodo for now and they haven't shown any interest in making their rules list more user-friendly :(

    As I've said, I'm not prepared to pay £20/year for a firewall so it's pointless looking at Kaspersky or Eset.
     
  24. The Red Moon

    The Red Moon Registered Member

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    Have you looked at online armor.?
    Not many free firewalls to choose from really.
     
  25. doveman

    doveman Registered Member

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    I think I did but I'll take another look. Again they charge per year but if that's just for support and it will continue working forever if I just buy one year that's OK, I'm just not prepared to buy a product that I can't use unless I pay another £20/year every year.
     
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