Why did you buy Look'n'Stop?

Discussion in 'LnS English Forum' started by BVV, May 30, 2003.

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  1. BVV

    BVV Guest

    I have been testing (or rather, using) LnS for the past few weeks and it's about time to make a decision: keep it yes or no.
    $39 is quite a lot of dosh, considering the fact that there are many freeware alternatives. I don't doubt the quality of these products, so why pay for a firewall. What were your decisive reasons for doing so?
     
  2. Patrice

    Patrice Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2003
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    Antarctica
    Hi BVV,

    $39 isn't that much I think... I paid a lot more for other software or beer! :D You have to think of the advantages of the product and the benefits it brings to your system. You have to answer this question yourself.

    I wanted to have a firewall which protects me not only inbound but also outbound. And Look'n'Stop is (in my humble) opinion the best that far at the moment (and it already was the best one and a half year ago when I bought it). I wanted to be more secure of attacks. To have such a tight security I don't think $39 is much... :rolleyes:

    Best regards,

    Patrice
     
  3. Blackcat

    Blackcat Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2002
    Posts:
    4,024
    Location:
    Christchurch, UK
    I trialed a number of firewalls and chose LookNStop for several reasons;

    1. As a newbie you can simply install the enhanced rules set and you are 'fully' protected.

    2. With more experience and help from this forum;

    http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=9584

    you can make your own rules or simply use those listed.

    3. Virtually no memory imprint and virtually no effect on system resources.

    4. Is one of the few firewalls that can effectively block both Inbound and outbound connections.

    5. Payment is a one-off, unless there is a complete new version. Most other commercial packages charge an annual fee.

    6. Support both here at wilders and by Frederic is excellent and very quick.

    All in all an excellent firewall, which I am very pleased with.

    To answer your question- a definite YES!!!!

    In my case I chose LNStop over the good free firewalls- ZAP Kerio, and Outpost. My decision was based upon the amount of protection LookNStop was giving me; I believe the best.

    Your decision should also be based upon whether you are on dial-up or 24/7 cable and what sort of information is on your computer. If on dial-up, you have no important data on your box and you are short of money, then go with the freeware.

    If not go with LNStop. $39 is not a lot to pay for peace of mind and you always have to pay for the 'best'.
     
  4. BVV

    BVV Guest

    Ok, in a nutshell: LnS = quality in every way (protection, system resources, support and what else have you). It's a bit surprising none of you mentioned internet speed. The first thing I noticed after installing LnS was the speed at which the browser now loads pages. It's impossible to make an objective comparison, but it sure feels faster than any other firewall. Is this my imagination or is this true??

    I'm convinced, I think. Is it possible to pay for LnS without a credit card, send cash perhaps?
     
  5. Paul Wilders

    Paul Wilders Administrator

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2001
    Posts:
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    The Netherlands
    BVV,

    Point your browser over here
    and press "buy now". Several payment options are available.

    regards.

    paul
     
  6. Phant0m

    Phant0m Guest

    Personally I choose Look ‘n’ Stop because it reminds me of the very 1st Firewall called ConSeal PC Firewall, which was Advanced well beyond it’s time. Not until 1st of last year other Software Firewalls vendors didn’t start implementing “some” of the necessary Features that ConSeal PC Firewall had years and years before hand…

    Look ‘n’ Stop has a large quantity of necessary Features that I just don’t see in other Software Firewalls currently out there.

    It’s extremely lite on System Resources and extremely stable compared to all other Software Firewalls currently existing. It’s extremely small Software Firewall not even Installation file more then 480KB, it was designed to be integrated part of Microsoft Windows then just another piece of additional Software which sits at the Top of the OS Layer.

    On Windows NT Systems especially you can delete the Soft4ever Folder which contains GUI Application and so on and yet Look ‘n’ Stop still keeps on ticking, having capabilities of securing your Machine without a need for the GUI Application.

    Frederic is just simply the best Software Firewall vendor existing, he’s always Acknowledging peoples posts and E-mails and responding to peoples Problems/Questions. He openly admits if there was definitely an issue on behalf of his Software Firewall, and he’ll do everything known to man to quickly fix bugs/issues.

    And like all Software, there are capabilities of problems relating to specific users machines and the Software they supposedly run, and even though people may have been greatly confused, at the end when all is well they don’t regret a thing!

    Couldn’t really say I’ve heard anything bad about Look ‘n’ Stop product from anyone, still there is always a 1st…

    Hope this gives you little more insight…

    Bests Regards,
    Phant0m``
     
  7. the Tester

    the Tester Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2002
    Posts:
    2,854
    Location:
    The Gateway to the Blue Hills,WI.
    I got curious about LooknStop when I noticed that some people that I respect a lot were running it.

    Why did I choose LnS?
    1)It tested very well at testing sites for stealth when I trialed it.
    2)The support via email and Phantom is top-notch.
    3)It has all of the features that I wanted;internet filtering,application filtering,great logs,Look feature,back-trace.
    4)I like the ease of loading enhanced rules versus setting up rules.
    5)Payment options.I payed with a money order. ;)
    6)I was impressed with the small download size!

    I am very happy that I chose LnS. :)
     
  8. gkweb

    gkweb Guest

    tomorrow (hmmm, in fact today if i see the clock...) i will be part of registered users, wait for me :D

    (i know little pbs with recent leaktest but i know too that dev addressed them, let's pray ^^)
     
  9. Looney

    Looney Guest

    Hello All,
    I use the full version of LNS all the time, think its a great product yet did not buy or pay for a single copy. Instead I bough two and am considering my third. Pls pls pls do not remind me that there are discounts etc for buying more than one copy as I know that and silently suffer.

    See yuz

    da Looney
     
  10. gkweb

    gkweb Guest

    hi registered users, i'm now part of the private registered club ^^

    To answer to the main question : look'n'stop is the less leaked firewall, authors are working on existing leaks, and support is the best ever seen.

    need more ?
     
  11. BVV

    BVV Guest

    No, I don't.
    I'm in the process of becoming a registered user myself. :)
     
  12. aerox

    aerox Registered Member

    Joined:
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    just want to say that LNS is one of the best firewall out there,if not the best !and i have try many..

    keep the good work.

    many thanx :cool:
     
  13. cqc10

    cqc10 Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2003
    Posts:
    25
    I am very close to making a decision myself -

    I CAN say this - LnS looks like the most powerful and configurable firewall out there - and I've tested almost every sw based firewall you can get.

    I detected network events with LnS that I did
    NOT find with Kerio or ZA. I found a Cisco Content Engine sending
    RST packets randomly to various PC's on port 8999 which resulted in a
    RST response from my PC. (apparently Cisco has a bug where the CCE
    floods networks with RST packets) This was detected and blocked by
    LnS, but it was never even detected by anything else. This was a perfect case where your "stealth" on a network could be compromised. I would have been visible with ZA and Kerio - but it was blocked by LnS.

    I don't know of another firewall that can do MAC-based rule either. Quite amazing . . .

    I'll tell you why I'll probably go with LnS. I do not own it yet, and yet Frederic has responded to my emails and my post several times. I am NOT a paying customer yet, and still Frederic has treated me like I am. I probably owe him 39 bucks just for putting up with my emails! :D

    I spent 8 weeks trying to fix a problem with ZA support, and I finally gave up. I am "paid up" on ZA for another year, but I dont' even use that garbage anymore.

    Kerio was good, and it is free, but it simply doesn't have the power LnS does.
     
  14. MickeyTheMan

    MickeyTheMan Security Expert

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2002
    Posts:
    1,017
    I switched to LNS ever since it got hosted way back on Becky's board and no turning back here !
     
  15. solarpowered candle

    solarpowered candle Registered Member

    Joined:
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    Posts:
    1,181
    Location:
    new zealand
    I like simplicity and for me look n Stop is pure simplicity ( just hit the advanced rules) Yet it is possibly the best firewall one can have .
     
  16. illukka

    illukka Guest

    hi
    you guys are making me wonder if i have the right firewall now... i have 200 dats left on zap..
    i trialed look'n'stop last year and foun out that it was slowing my internet connection(i'm on gprs), don't remember which version it was.. has there been upgrades, or fixes i'm not aware? hmm must trial again
     
  17. Phant0m

    Phant0m Registered Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Canada
    Hey illukka

    I’ve been using Look ‘n’ Stop since v2.02, and since then I’ve been testing the versions on all different Windows Operating Systems and never ever encountered any Internet Connection slowdowns. In fact one of many reasons I choose Look ‘n’ Stop is because it handles nicely, doesn’t have any side-effects in Reference to PC Performance & Internet Performance…

    Do you think it’s possible you had Software Conflicts or Data corruptions or something which consisted with your problem?

    Yes Look ‘n’ Stop has been greatly enhanced throughout 2002-2003, I hope you would consider using it sometime for exploring purposes. You may happen to find yourself quite fond of it…

    If you feel like checking out http://www.phant0m-looknstop.com/ and in "Program Updates" area you can see some of the major changes dating back to the beginning of Look ‘n’ Stop…

    Bests Regards,
     
  18. cqc10

    cqc10 Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2003
    Posts:
    25
    Hey Illukka -

    My experience has been that LnS runs MUCH faster than ZA with a far smaller memory footprint. I could not tell a speed difference between it and Kerio or between it and Outpost, but it was definitely better than ZA.

    As I mentioned in my other post, I caught events with LnS that I didn't catch with other FWs. Truly amazing. You can go simple with using preset rules, or make your own and get quite complex.

    I have not seen another firewall with this much control over the nature of the IP packets itself. When I'm at work, I get quite a kick out watching the network admins scanning for open ports! :D (they look for open port 80's to make sure we don't get hit by a Nimda or Code Red)

    I saw a lot of stuff with ZA, but I was NOT stealthed completely, and I could NEVER get a response from ZA on my problems. I spent two months trying, and I never got an answer.

    Give LnS another try. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, by I made myself use it for a week. I was frustrated a couple of times as I tried to figure out what it was doing or why I rule I wrote wouldn't work, but once I sorted that out, it really captured my attention.

    If you do detect a slow if you decide to try it again, post to this board and some of the folks here can help. (although I think you'll see a faster fw!)
     
  19. Phant0m

    Phant0m Registered Member

    Joined:
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    3,726
    Location:
    Canada
    That’s my mono, Try for a week and attempt to comprehend the basics…
    My opinion is if one isn’t capable of keeping something on for a week while attempting to comprehend the basics before basing a judgement then it’s irrelevant…

    I assume when people see Look ‘n’ Stop they may see complex Software Firewall, when I see Look ‘n’ Stop I see a Software Firewall with Additional Features to be explored, to be explored not A.S.A.P but Features to be explored in you guy’s own time frame… All you currently need to learn is how to make a rule to Allow or Deny Packets using the following Source/Destination IP & Ports. And heck you don’t even need to know a thing in order to have Ultimate Level Security using EnhancedRulesSet.rls which comes pre-installed with Look ‘n’ Stop, compared to other Software Firewalls Default Protection Level.
     
  20. illukka

    illukka Guest

    thanks for the info guys! i could give zap to my dad... yeah the slowdown could have been caused by my gprs modem software(buggy,buggy) i'll definitely give it another try...
     
  21. JohnnyDangerous

    JohnnyDangerous Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2003
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    Can I use this product on a server and protect my LAN computers?

    My server is the gateway to the internet. Will it allow the LAN computers to access the internet without too much trouble?
     
  22. Phant0m

    Phant0m Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2003
    Posts:
    3,726
    Location:
    Canada
    Hey JohnnyDangerous

    Yes Look ‘n’ Stop is fully customizable to be installed on a Gateway Machine; however for proper Outbound Filtering you should install copy of Look ‘n’ Stop on each and every client machine…
     
  23. fryr

    fryr Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2003
    Posts:
    51
    I bought LooknStop becauseafter evaluating free firewalls I found that the mahority of them eat CPU and Memory - eg. ZoneAlarm 5% CPU when idling - Sygate 5% CPU when idling (this increased dramatically every time internet activity occurred) both took about 15mb of memory as I recall.

    LooknStop - virtually no CPU usage and memory is about 1 to 3mb

    Got rid of bloatware Norton Internet Sercurity and replaced it with NOD32 (Anti-Virus) and LooknStop (Firewall)
     
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