Good minimalist firewall?

Also the LnS free version only controls incoming AFAIK.

IMO outgoing control is VERY useful for emasculating keyloggers in case one gets by your security wall. A very good & minimalist freebie covering both out and in, for XP & earlier, is Kerio 2.1.5

If someone already mentioned Kerio -- gomenasai; my eyesight isn't what it used to be.

 

If you want a free option, Privatefirewall with the HIPS component disabled should be fine. It's pretty light, and allows per-application control and all.

(PCTools Firewall with ESV disabled is also good, but I find that the latest version just takes forever to start, which is IMO a liability, at least for laptops.)

 

do u mean the tray icon doesnt show up right away or the filtering service itself doesnt turn on right away, from my own use i think u mean the tray icon is a bit laggy to show up (but not too bad) but even tho the tray icon isnt ther right away, traffic is still being filtered if everything is working properly.

 

zonealarm free firewall

 

From day NAT routers were out, I gave up on all firewalls, be it Windows or Linux.

 

I gave LnS a try on a virtual machine and it was pretty sweet - light and easy to configure application rules by training. I'll go with LnS if I decide to pay or otherwise with Kerio PF 2.1.5. Thanks again for the help.

 

Back in the day when that desktop was my primary computer, I used ZoneAlarm Free on it. Actually I started with Symantec AV+FW Corporate Editions, got infected, became disillusioned with Symantec, switched to AVG 7 Free + ZoneAlarm 7 Free. I was happy with them at the time, but then AVG 8 came out and it was a bit too heavy for that desktop (performance issues). I'm not sure if there was a problem with ZA 8 as well, but for some reason I got sick of it and switched to Rising AV 8 Free + Online Armor 3 Free (I remember I definitely preferred OA to ZA). At that point the desktop had been relegated to secondary duties anyway and I was mostly working on my newer laptop. Not sure how AVG 9, ZA 9, Symantec ?? turned out because I have no desire to go back to any of them again...

 

Look n stop license is for lifetime?

 

No, it lasts until the next major upgrade (an upgrade from 2.06 to 2.07 would be free, an upgrade from 2.0X to an upcoming 3.0 wouldn't).

 

This means if I buy v2 I can use that life long w/o upgrading to v3?

 

What is CHX-i ??

 

For what it's worth, I'm currently trying out the latest version of ZoneAlarm's Free Firewall that has just been released.

http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm

It's probably still not the lightest out there, but I can honestly say that it's a LOT lighter than it used to be. So far, I really like it.

 

https://ssl.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbwssl.cgi?Gw=chx-i

 

The ZA Free installer is 40 MB, so I suspect the program itself is also heavier than Firewalls such as Ghostwall (0.6 MB), SoftProtect (0.9 MB), LnS 2.07 (1.1 MB) and Kerio PF 2.1.5 (2 MB). But I'm sure it's also more comprehensive, and maybe light in comparison to other equally comprehensive firewalls.

 

I think you're exactly right. Can't quite classify it as "minimalist."

 

CHX-I is just great, but is development is dead years ago...

 

Kerio 2.1.5 rocks, and is as light as the also excellent look n' stop

get Kerio 2.1.5 here:
http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page7.html#Kerio%20Personal%20Firewall

 

Thanks for the link. I thought chx-i was an acronym and I have never had luck searching on acronyms I find in forums.

 

You may try Sygate Personal Firewall. Its free, and i believe you can still download it at download.com. I used it in the past, and its very simple to use. Symantec bought them out several years ago. I believe it was light weight.

 

Now I can input something, Iolo Personal Firewall. I was testing it today, it is light on resources and also a silent firewall.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1685826