PC Tools Firewall questions

Should Enhanced Security Verification be turned off if you have DefenseWall?

Also, in a home network, should all adapters listed be Trusted?

 

well with defensewall you should be good enough without ESV, but having it enabled would still give you that little bit more protection, its not very noisy so its worth just keeping on.

 

PC Tools FW version 5 is still wobbly when auto creating rules for P2P programs. Best is to manually allow fi LimeWire. I tested V5 for 3 days and was impressed with the new version. Relatively high protection with relatively low pop-ups, fast effective program. It also has a clean state install like comodo now.

It does not protect against direct disk access, but seemed to offer most other HIPS protection (phisical memory, hooks, injections, kernel objects etc). When you run LUA or use a policy sandbox like DW, it is quiet good extra defense for a FW (and a decent FW also)

Cheesr Kees

 

Also set as Trusted only adapter(s) facing your LAN, leave the other(s) checked as Internet.

If you consider ESV to be noisier than you like, and since DW is in place guarding threatgates, you can turn it off and maybe substitute it with ThreatFire (if u are not using it already) as silenced kind-of replacement.

You may turn Stateful Packet Inspection on for a bit of added protection, too..

 

hmm, speaking of SPI, im wondering, does turning on SPI make browsing and internet slower?

 

It shouldn't really, at least it didn't on a test machine with PCTFW v4. It may not work if used on ICS server though - didn't try it in this kind of scenario myself, but it's a no go with Jetico's implementation of SPI for example. If that prove to be the case, then it can be remedied by using a proxy instead of internet connection sharing, or, even easier, by switching SPI back to default state

 

How does it's HIPS, if thats what it has, compare to OA free?

 

OA's HIPS is probably stronger, but PC Tools HIPS is easier to use while still giving decent protection.

 

Thanks for the reply. I am considering replacing my wife's setup and want to keep it fairly pop-up free.

Currently: SAS Pro, Avast free, MBAM free.

Replacement: SAS Pro, Avira free, MBAM free, (Choice of PC Tools firewall, OA free, or Drivesentry).

 

They are a close in intrusion protection OA free versus PC Tools FW free. OA free can also act as an Anti Executable program (niot allow to run programs). PC Tools is easier to setup.

 

Does this firewall work for u people?I installed version 5 as version 4 didn't work well on my pc.
5 version is light it worked with utorrent and strong DC without me doing anything,but i have clear blocking rules for 2 programs and it doesn't block them!!!

 

LeakTest says it is allowed, but on their forums, they said that the test is really blocked. Are you sure those two programs are connecting?

 

Is there any way to reset PC Tools Firewall to standard settings?

 

I'm currently using PCt firewall 5.0 along with Avira 9 personal.

But I don't like HIPS any more as I feel it brings me much more trouble than help. Even PCt firewall's enhanced security feature is too noisy for my like at the moment. I'm going to add threatfire but turn off pct firewall's enhanced security.

 

That's turned off by default in PCTIS..Still feel that 3.0.1.14 was better using the code injection at least you knew what was going on. In 5.0.0.38 it's silent and if you enable ES then is sluggish at best.

 

Help please

 

You can choose Normal or Expert..
Under Settings
Under User.
Toggle Normal - Standard
Toggle Expert - Advanced

Is this what you want?

 

Hello tipstir

I want to reset these advanced rules to standard Is the only way a new installation?

 

What all the rules out of the box is set to default except for the ones you added (allow/block list). But each rule is based on the applications. You can make your own or edit the rules for that application.

If you have issues that can't be resolved then you can uninstall the package and reboot. Since FWP creates a virtual network adapter do not use Revo to uninstall the program otherwise "other hardware device" will appear under device manger. I've notice this for TF too.