Do all firewalls slow down browsing?

I am new to dsl and firewalls. When we signed up with RoadRunner we were expecting things to fly compared to dial up. But as soon as it was setup for us we downloaded their free offer of Etrust EZ Firewall and AV. It didn't really go as fast as we expected (except with downloads). We were disappointed. But then yesterday I had to reformat my hd and had to connect to the internet in order to download the firewall again. I then noticed how fast it went. Then once I had the firewall installed and running everything went slow again. So I turned it off and it went fast. Are all firewalls like this? If so what's the point of getting faster connection if the firewall just slows you back down?

Thanks,
Bethany

 

No not all firewalls slow down you browsing noticibly. I am useing zone alarm 5.0 and I don't notice a slowdown. but what you should try is getting free trials of a few firewalls and see which one works best for you. but be sure to not have two firewalls on your pc at the same time. They don't work well like that. some free firewalls can be found here and here

 

Hi Bethany

... and welcome to Wilders

A firewall should not have any noticeable impact on your connection.
Does your version of Etrust EZ Firewall have any content filtering (cookies, ads, active content)? These types of features may impact browsing/page loading.

Regards,

CrazyM

 

you pobably need help configureing your FW,see if you can post a picture of the relevant configuration pages for someone who uses it,so they can help you configure it correctly.my FW doesnt slow things noticibly.make sure when you dont use etrust FW you have another FW running.im sure someone more experienced will correct your probem soon.and ask for more info.

 

Never used Etrust, but browsing speed has not been a problem using Kerio, Sygate, and now Outpost.

Nick

 

I think it is setup to stop pop ups. I just looked and it says that it has blocked 50 intrusions and I just got it setup a few hours ago. I am assuming those are pop ups?

 

why dont you go to shields up just to see how well your FW shapes up.goto all service ports and scan your ports
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

 

I did the shields Up test and it showed all ports as Stealth and said the following.

"Your system has achieved a perfect "TruStealth" rating. Not a single packet — solicited or otherwise — was received from your system as a result of our security probing tests. Your system ignored and refused to reply to repeated Pings (ICMP Echo Requests). From the standpoint of the passing probes of any hacker, this machine does not exist on the Internet. Some questionable personal security systems expose their users by attempting to "counter-probe the prober", thus revealing themselves. But your system wisely remained silent in every way. Very nice."

So I guess this means that I have a good firewall??

 

Those are likely blocked unsolicited inbound connection attempts by the firewall, not the ad blocking.

Can you disable the content filtering (ad blocking, etc.) to see if that makes a difference and what may be causing the slow down you are experiencing?

Regards,

CrazyM

 

thats just the basics,and all i can help you with.but i think those intrusions you had werent blocked pop ups,but internet traffic or blocked attempts at entering your computer.and those were logged by your firewall.however so far so good the shields up test shows your FW is working .if you wait youll get good advice about FWs here.and hopefull your FW wont be dragging its feet any more.so,good luck

 

A properly configured FW should not slow down the throughput of the ISP. Make sure you don't use more than one FW. Make sure the windows XP FW is OFF. Make sure you don't have any conflict with the software and hardware FWs.

Test your throughput speed with the FW ON and OFF. Do you see any significant change in speed?

http://promos.mcafee.com/speedometer/test_0150.asp

 

IMHO, a person's Firewall plus Antivirus plus Antitrojan combination CAN have a definite impact on browsing speed. IF the firewall is logging anything & everything it encounters, and IF the AV & AT are scanning each & every access by that firewall, it can make for a busy threesome, & slow down one's browsing speed a bit.

I excluded my Firewall's log files from on-access scanning by my AV, & it speeded up my browsing quite noticeably.

Just a thought...

 

Excellent observation. I don't do any data logging. Just the FW and e-mail scanner. If you have tons of proggies running in the background on a 500 MHz PC with 128MB RAM, then you will probably encounter speed issue.

Don't get obsessed with filtering all incoming/outgoing data. YOU are the best filter. There are no perfect software. Create an image file of the OS at least one a week. If something goes wrong, then you will probably lose about one week's worth of data.

It is possible to disable all data logging with ZA Pro 4.5.

 

I'd agree that the AV is more likely to be the cause of any slowdowns. A firewall should speed things up if it is filtering ads and other unwanted cruft from webpages. Bethany, try disabling Etrust's realtime scanning to see if this makes the difference.

I'd beg to differ here. Everything coming into or out of your PC should be filtered (firewall) with emails/downloaded files being scanned (anti-virus). While creating a weekly backup is sound advice, many viruses and trojans hide themselves so you may not notice them for weeks for months if your security is not up to scratch - by which time your backups will be infected also.

Try not to disable logging unless you absolutely have to - you have no way of reviewing your firewall's effectiveness without it.

 

A good way to check is to run the cable modem speed check (Time Warner web site has one for Road Runner). I'm usually around 1.75mb/sec, with or without ZA running. ZA Appears to make little difference on my setup. Norton was a different story. Now that was slow!

 

Sounds like you're not getting the maximum speed with Time Warner. Nominal is around 2.5 to 3.2GB/sec.

F.

 

2.5 gigs/sec. Now that is fast! Damn it, I want my money back! I guess I'll just have to get on my bike and peddle faster!

 

It's $49 per month, and I go as fast as I can. However, I do stop for a smoke from time to time, so your download speeds may not go above 2.0 gig/sec. No guarantees on this one!

 

To a degree, especially Nortons. A high quality hardware firewall is the way to go, one that includes stateful packet inspection. I back mine up with a light weight software firewall to control outbound connections.

 

Brain fart...missed by a factor of 1000...2.5 to 3.2 MB/sec.

F.

 

Which light weight firewall are you using? I have a router but I am also running Sygate Pro but think the latest version has added a little more weight than I need and a few conflicts. I know how to configure it which is why I hestitate to change but wonder I could run with an outbound application control which would be lighter.

 

Indeed, I'd be interested in knowing also. I also use what I believe is a "light-weight" software firewall (ZoneAlarm Free) behind a router, just for outbound control, but I'd be interested if there might be something even "lighter".

Acadia

 

I know look n stop is really really light, but I use belkin router and Outpost pro with two plugins stopped (overlapped some software setups) and logging is off, not really needed. and I am very very pleased.

my webbrowsing had never been this fast. and firewall is 7mb.

 

Yes, I used LookNStop up until a month ago when I jumped to cable Broadband. I must admit that I liked LnS a lot but when I went behind a router I needed something that was easy to configure with the router; the instructions for configuring LnS with a router were WAY over my head. ZA Free needed no configuring at all, it all matched up and worked instantly. I would be happy to go back to LnS if they made it easier to work with, in my unknowledgeable opinion it is an excellent firewall, but all I needed was a SIMPLE firewall to block the outgoing.

Acadia