New SKPF 4.3.635 Released

http://www.filehippo.com/download_kerio_personal_firewall/changelog/

Anyone care to give this a test drive?

 

I'm running it right now, literally just installed. Installation went smoothly, running very well alongside my other security apps. Will report more later.

 

Working nicely here, a good free option in my opinion which seems to give better protection for the average PC user than Zonealarm free, and less demanding than Comodo to set up.

 

Today is the fifth day running this (paid) version of SBKPF. I've had absolutely no issues with it. I'm running it alongside AntiVir PE Premium, BOClean, and Primary Response SafeConnect. I haven't done any leak testing, but I don't consider that a major issue. So far, well done Sunbelt.

 

OK OK i'll try it

 

Are rules easy to add for programs like utorrent.How lite is it

 

How RAM-hungry is it?

Phil

 

The updater isnt working from within SKPF

 

Which version are you updating from?

 

It's using around 29Mb here

 

Can anyone explain the Application Behavior Blocking feature? I understand that it helps with malware prevention, but I'm not sure how or why it does. Thanks.

 

It keeps causing my Firefox to hang while loading pages. I installed it clean, no update. Exiting SKPF stops the problem.

 

Using it with Firefox v2.0.0.2 here with no problems whatsoever.

 

I'd be interested to see if the stated improvements in stability with this version results in fewer or no BSODs. I used to get BSODs running KPF 4.3, which led me to abandon it and try other firewalls. I still think it's a very good firewall with a great interface, and would go back to it if stability was proven to be improved.

 

Behavior blocking is similar to the HIPS feature in something like Spyware Terminator, etc or SSM (similar, but not the same, nor as comprehensive). For example, it works similar to SSM in that it asks permission for unknown apps to start. It also monitors changes in programs (like, say, an update that changes the MD5 sig) and notifies you that it is not the same program it was, etc. For example, when updating Firefox, the next time I started FF Kerio would block it and advise me "Firefox is not the same application as the program with the same name" blah blah blah. In a sense it monitors parent-child program relationships, though not nearly to the extent of a regular HIPS such as SSM, DSA, etc. Word of warning, though, is that Kerio is pretty resource intensive compared to how it used to be. 29 MB is pretty heavy for a firewall, IMO, especially since Comodo only takes up around 7-9MB total on my machine.

 

The new version of Zonealarm free: v7.0.302.000 was causing me random BSOD's so I ended up trying several others: Comodo, Jetico, PC tools etc.. including Kerio. This is my favourite so far, ok, it uses around 30Mb of RAM but I've normally got 400Mb spare so it's not a problem. The level of outgoing protection seems much better than ZA free.

 

Question:

Is anyone using this firewall with the advanced rules(per app) or is everyone simply using this as an application firewall?

 

Application firewall here. (Passes on Shields Up and all other leak tests I've tried though such as tooleaky http://tooleaky.zensoft.com/ )

 

A combination of the two.

 

Definitely just app based. I got rid of Comodo b/c of it kept asking me about Firfox every time it was launched from another app.

 

Im on version 4.3.268 and it wont update

 

Hey all you Sunbelt Kerio Firewall users out there I have a question for you. Are the NIPS and Application Behavior Blocking features in SKPF necessary for malware prevention, and if so how good are they at it? I miss using the latest free version of this Firewall, and although it did use over 30MB of memory it didn't seem to slow my PC down at all. I am thinking of using it again for its NIPS and Application Behavior Blocking features if they truly are effective at preveneting malware. I will use Cyberhawk for the HIPS as I'm aware this is not enabled in the freeware version, and let Firefox take care of most of what the Web Guard does. Thanks in advanced.

 

just dumped SBKF because of similar prompts. Its ignorant to ask for an app to access the internet more than once.

 

Hey all you Sunbelt Kerio Firewall users out there, should I install it after that last post?

 

It's a good product - give it a go. I had occasional BSODS with earlier versions, but they were rare and I liked the program a lot. I didn't find that there were too many application popups. However, you might want to turn off the feature that monitors applications launching other applications - I found that there were too many popups with that and it had nothing to do with an pplication was trying to access the internet. With that switched off, the firewall ran very unobtrusively.