First Real Sygate observation by meee

Ok, so when I had Zonealarm and tried to play some games online, rigth when I hit "multiplayer" the games would freeze and lock my whole puter up unless I disables Zone Alarm completely. One game, "Empire Earth" wouldn't even play single player with ZA running!

So, the observation is... With SPF I have none of these problems, I can host online games even with Sygate functioning and have no problems whatsoever once I have given the app permission. Now, maybe this is partly becaseu ZA "overreacts" by listing so many hits that other firewalls don't, but I've found myself a bit paranoid. I haven't had any problems of any sort on my new machine, but still... Is Sygate this much more compatable with my games and online gaming or is SPF not watching something maybe it should I dunno... Anyone know?

 

It's been a while since I used either firewall, but If I recall rightly, ZA is somewhat limited in its rule making ability and is very aggressive in its filtering, so I believe it's common for some to have similar problems.
Does this mean that Sygate is not aggressive enough? I don't think that's the case. Sygate has been very secretive about the specifics of their IDS, so all you can do is trust they know what they are doing. Sometimes, the websites will tell people what needs to be enabled to play games or whatever. It can range from cookies to activex and special protocols.
I think Sygate is a good firewall, and you can always test your setup at a couple of the scanning sites like PC Flank, Kalish, and Sygate.
My main concern using Sygate would be to make sure I had a good tight ruleset, same as with any good firewall.

 

Great post root.

In addition, Detox, are those games full-screen?

I've found in my testing that some version of ZoneAlarm on some operating systems tend to "freeze" the game and/or the system because you can't see the "allow this through?" box because the full-screen window hides it. Of course, ZoneAlarm halts that program's internet activity until you say "yes - let this through" (which is not a bad thing, I might add).

I don't really know of a way to fix this - maybe if you could manage to start up the multiplayer component, but use Ctrl+Alt+Del or task manager to close just that program, you might be able to see the "let this through?" pop up.

At least you have a working firewall now, though.  

If you are really that concerned about the lack of alerts, look in the configuration options for Sygate - although I am not familiar with the latest version, maybe it is supressing some alerts.

Just a thought.

-javacool

 

I don't think I'm too concerned, Sygate seems to be doing a good job... Yeah, the games were full screen, but they wlould freeze so that I could not alt+tab to go to the window to tell ZA to allow them. Sygate somehow alt+tabs the games itself to show its little window when the program doesn't already have permission. I haven't gotten into making rules with Sygate yet because I've been too lazy to read through the links I was provided about opening a particular port because the thing seems to doit on its own.. stay up and watchings things while letting me host games... I like the whole no-touch-works good thing!

 

Nevertheless I think javacool is on the right track. Can´t find the link right now, but i´ve read somewhere that Sygate´s ability to "hold" applications while waiting for permission is better than ZA´s. This would account for the freezing.
I use SPF 5 PRO myself and what i especially like is the blocking for a preset time of any IP that is bothering you. No sirens, no fuzz, just block´em

Greetz,