Firewall for newbies and slow computers...

Hi,

Sometimes, I have a friends and other persons that ask me for a free firewall, and suggest the Sygate but this firewall use some resources and some of that friends or persons have a very slow computer, so what firewall you suggest for this kind of user?

A firewall that have a good protection, very easy to use and understand, and use very very low resources...

Thanks

 

I guess Kerio 2.15 or Zone Alarm Free would be the right option.

 

Kerio 2.1.5 is a bit advanced. I'd suggest Zone Alarm.

Not version 5 though; I'd suggest using version 4.5, before the junk was added.

 

that should suffice, i guess.

 

I agree that Kerio is more advanced, but in my opinion the ZoneAlarm doesn't have a nice GUI...

For example, the main window of Sygate have the programs that are connected to the internet and in ZoneAlarm this isn't to easy to manage...

From this List of Free Firewalls do you some other suggestion?

 

I would have to also agree that for a free firewall, Kerio 2.1.5 and ZA would probably be the best choices. If you can tolerate rules, then Kerio would be better. ZA is very easy to use. Sygate, while good, eats more cpu time and ram than the other 2. And in Sygate you also have to remember to turn off "server" access for all programs.

 

To Kerodo and VaMPiRiC_CRoW
Although Kerio is more advanced, would it be easier to use it with either BlitenZeus's ruleset or the rulesets from here, either type I, II or III (depending on the users security preference)
Would that be more effective ?
Just a question...
Cheers

 

fredra - I would recommend BZ's rules much more than Sponge's. Sponge's rules are primarily designed to block spyware/adware sites and stuff like that. That is not my idea of what a firewall should be used for. BZ's rules are a much better way to go IMO.

 

Thanks for setting me straight with the differences ..... I did not realize that....much appreciated.
Cheers

 

I understand what you think but remember that I'm talking about users that didn't know anything about firewalls or computers, so the most easiest think should be better...

I like the way that the Sygate have their GUI, but like we know it consumes some resources...

ZoneAlarm is a nice firewall, but could have a better GUI and the resources are fine...

Kerio is very good but the rules...

 

I'm concluding, from your suggestions, that the others free available firewalls doesn't are so good on protection, usability and resources than Sygate, ZoneAlarm or Kerio...

 

Probably more to do with those ones being more widely used than the others which will result in more comments/feedback. I think the best you can do for your friends is provide them with a viable short list from which they can determine what works best for them.

Regards,

CrazyM

 

Could be the solution

 

Apart from Kerio, Jetico, NetVeda as well as Filseclab also have lower resource consumption so I suggest you try them out as well.

 

What about securepoint.
I remember trying this a while back in it seemed quite easy to use with low resourses.

 

Yes, Securepoint is quite promising, especially if combined with their Snort based Nuzzler IDS which is also free, however, it is written originally in German and getting support for it in English is quite hard.

 

Thanks for your suggestions

 

I'd add one small comment: a major part of my job is teaching newbies how to use a firewall, and zonealarm is definately, by a country mile, the easiest to explain. ZoneAlarm, however, has two major problems, both of which are important to users with older machines (presumably such as VaMPiRiC_CRoW is talking about).

The first problem is, of course, all the later plague-riddled gadgetry with which the ZoneAlarm people have taken to disfiguring their product, making it a wall-to-wall bugfest ... and hence essentially unusable by newbies or anyone else.

The second problem concerns other security measures. My teaching facilities have a large number of small, elderly machines, all of which have to be fitted with Windows 98 (including Essential Updates), plus firewall and antivirus program. For a long time, my preferred choice has included ZoneAlarm (version 3.7 as being very stable) plus NOD32 (latest version, constantly updating), both chosen for their extreme effectiveness, extreme resource friendliness and ease of use. But recently, the combination of ZoneAlarm, NOD32 and Essential Updates have begun to conflict with each other (I don't know exactly how or why), and one by one, all my machines have become unusable. Apart from leaving my machines all unprotected, the easiest cure I have found is to replace ZoneAlarm with Kerio.

Rightly or wrongly, I think the usefulness of ZoneAlarm may be coming to an end, and newbies will just have to bite the bullet and start learning about rule-based firewall setup as part of the price of being able to access the Internet safely.

 

Use the BlitzenZeus default rules to save a lot of headaches. that way all the user must deal with are the applications.

Another approach is to add one rule to the BZ set:

Allow TCP outgoing from local ports 1024-5000 to remote ports 21,25,80,110,443,1024-65535, any remote address, any application.

It will allow most internet usage, but it is not app aware. Mainly, a temporary solution when there is not time to do it as intended, by running every app that communicates.