Several top-tier Antivirus apps (AV) have built-in firewalls (FW). Examples include Kaspersky & Avast/AVG. I am presently running Win10FC, a good & strong front-end to Windows FW. I am also running AVG. AVG includes an "Enhanced Firewall" whose settings are equally granular (IMO) to those of Win10FC. I am leaning toward uninstalling W10FC and running only AVG's built-in FW instead. =>QUESTION: What do you think -- good move or not?
Well, w10fc is very good. I prefer it because it's added on to the additional capabilities of the built-in firewall. The Windows' firewall is very good. I just don't see the need for anything third party at this point, firewall or anti-malware scanner. It eliminates conflicts. When is doubt K.I.S.S.;Keep it simple stupid. I'm not calling you stupid, it's just the acronym.
you dont need a(n additional) firewall if you are running windows 10. so you dont need any other additional antivirus with suite. waste of time and money. no hail to the defender, but in your special case having problems with ears and eyes, keep the maintenance work as low as possible and focus on work with programs. btw AVG belongs to Avast which belongs to Norton (LifeLock) which also holds Bullguard and some other. more acronyms for KISS Keep it short and simple Keep it simple and smart
I am still using Win 7 on my ancient laptop computer. My desktop computer has Win 11 & relies on MS Defender.. I realize that Win7 is the weakest link in my laptop computer's security. I'm just taking the risk that my security apps can do the job. They are: OSArmor, Voodoo Shield, AVG, & Malwarebytes Anti-exploit (MBAE).
the windows 7 firewall is same as windows 10, dont mind on it, just use it* (or leave it alone) too bad for you, all of those are futile. what do you expect to control? such (single) tools may raise security, but a bunch of them lower security enormous, lower than vulnerable windows 7 itself. uninstall all except AVG. thats my recommendation. the web is NOT evil, it takes you where you click. * rules for the windows firewall are easy to create.
Wow! Your comments are startling. These security apps all do different things. OSArmor is a VERY granular, user-configurable behavior blocker. Voodoo Shield is a whitelist/antiexecutable/default-deny app. MBAE is NOT the much larger MalwareBytes antivirus. MBAE is a tiny app that does nothing except protect against exploits while surfing the internet. @Brummelchen -- Thanks for your always valued counsel. I shall give it some serious thought.
You don't need OSarmor and Voodooshield, most likely. I guess you could run OSArmor in blocklist only mode along with Voodooshield, but most won't do that. I have licenses for both, and I like both very much. I don't think you could go wrong with either one. But using both is not advised; there's a lot of functionality overlap. If you chose VoodooShield you won't need to use MBAE, again because of protection overlap. If you go with OSarmor, you might. But as of right now there are a few things you could streamline.
THIS ONE is the stand alone firewall (FW) I now have. However, many top-tier antivirus apps (AV) include a FW component together with several other malware-fighting components. So my original question was, why should I run TWO apps (AVG & a FW) when AVG already has a FW? I long ago decided to drop the stand alone FW & rely exclusively on the FW contained in AVG. If you a seeking a stand alone FW, there are several good ones (Tiny FW, Simple FW, etc) in addition to the FW that I linked in the first 2 words of this comment. Jo Ann, I wish you much aloha from Hawaii, & please visit Wilders more often.
Aloha bellgamin.... I'm not looking to replace WDFW. I'm seeking an easy (yet effective) 'add-on' to monitor and allow/deny outgoing internet access by various apps.
2 Suggestions: 1- Simple Wall (SW) 2- Malwarebytes Windows Firewall Control (WFC) WFC is more popular here at Wilders, & has a lengthy thread. HERE is link to thread's recent page (as of now) HERE is link to SW's thread's recent page (as of now).
You might try Glasswire, it is a bit heavy on CPU and in free version you can block an app only after it has been detected and allowed, but it is just beautiful as it shows everything, including bandwidth data. It is even included in 360 TSE.
I used AVG for a while but recently switched to K7 because K7 gives LOTS of zzzip to my aging laptop computer. As to AVG selling info, I had not heard that AVG does any more of that than several other antivirus apps. May I ask where you read about that? By their very nature, all antivirus apps work deep within a computer's files and processes. If anybody doesn't trust his or her antivirus app or ANY other app, they should dump it & find one that they do trust.
if "ESET Antivirus 2.70.39" would get updates or possible to install, i would recommend this one. no bothering hips, no firewall, just a pure scanner like MBAM 2.02 do. concernign AVG https://www.avg.com/en-ww/do-not-sell yes, they sell informations, but you are just a number, no name. you will get "other" information based on yout number. but at least they did, or still do https://www.tomsguide.com/news/avast-avg-data-collection this is well known, never read about? see, what i mean? you never complained about me, and " I'll do my very best, Miss Sophie." Antivirus and some other security software are complete out of my focus. i still use my concept since xp (more or less changed) and i am malware free since i started with "PC" (intel 286). i only can share my personal view to the things and this experience had a very special time.
Do you ever get problems where a specific app says no internet connection when using WFC? I hate using 3rd party Firewall tools because I can't be bothered to deal with such issues really.
Over the years I have used lots of FireWalls (FW) and almost all of them caused a lockdown at one time or another. I never had much trouble chasing down the reason but, I agree, it was a momentary PITN. I think that's why Windows FW (WFW) is almost invisible to an average user. That invisible FW just does a very basic job and lets the user enjoy his computer. The Windows FW (WFW) can be tweaked but the means of tweaking is, IMO, deliberately not easy to find, or to work with. The 3rd Party FWs are designed to enable advanced users to more easily tweak the WFW or totally ignore it by using a stand-alone FW. IMO, third party FWs are mainly designed for advanced users who want to try & constrain usage of out-calls by malware. As a result, most 3rd party FWs give waaay too much information for everyday users to worry about or mess around with -- ports, connections, etc. They also enable user-designed rules which, unless the user is somewhat advanced in FW know-how, can be an invitation to problems, and probably won't do one iota of good in blocking malware connections. If a non-expert FW user (which is what I am) wants more granular FW protection than merely Allow/Disallow, they need a FW where the app's developers did the work by providing a goodly number of granular rules that will not cause problems but that do offer some expertly-designed constraints on malware & unnecessary connect-outs. The only stand-alone FW I have come across that has a big array of PRE-DEFINED rules, developed by FW gurus, is the Sphinx FW. I used Sphinx happily for a long time but no longer do so because I now use SpyShelter & it includes a user-friendly FW, plus lots of other protective stuff. It's a sweet suite.
Some Security Suites does have in build firewall feature called "autopilot" to reduce fw pop ups but while maintaining good in/out protection. F-Secure and Trend Micro does not have a firewall at all. Trend Micro does have "firewall booster" feature, which might check outbound connection(s) against its malware hosted database? Not sure about that tho. Forticlient does have a feature to block all newly created domains(created within a week or so and many malwares try to connect their newly created ones ) which are not verified, tho this is not FortiClient firewall feature, it is it web protection feature. Interesting feature anyway. Millions of users are victims of several botnets, because these users does not care about security at all.
My biggest issue is nowadays a lot of the computer/laptop utilities and drivers are Windows Store apps so finding their EXE to allow the connection is a major pain in the butt. (ie. Dell Driver Update)
When i bought my Lenovo PC from local market store, i instantly booted it with my Win10 LTSC USB stick, formatted the drive, installed LTSC without bloat, used the driver updater recommended by @roger_m and everything works just fine. Thanks Rog for the tip, according the driver updater sofwares.
