Suggestions

What are your suggestions on a firewall that will not slow my browsing and download speeds at all and is also low on resources?

 

I think you should look at Matousec Level1 (PerfTCP and PerfUDP) tests in Firewall chalenge suite for one of the references...
P.S. I see (from your signature) you using KAV7, its web-AV component can decrease web surfing speed

 

Hello there,

Well, based on your signature, I see you have KAV installed on your machine.
May I suggest OnlineArmor FREE, version 3.0 to you? OA Free doesn't slow your browsing speed down and it's light on resources. My only gripe with OA ( at least, when I beta tested it a few weeks ago) it's the slow boot time I experienced when it was running, very different from version 2.1.0.131 which was faster.

Anyway, if you go that route, I'd suggest you to either turn off the HIPS part of OA or the Proactive Defense iin KAV since they are likely to have conflicts.

Just my 2¢


Carlos

 

Lowest on resources would be probably built in FW in xp/vista, and then in Vista (or so I hear) using an front end app to interface to it.

Lowest resource using FW I have found is SoftPerfect. It is not an application firewall though, only downfall. Rules are set, so if you only allow ports 80,8080 and 443 for a browser, it works fine. The presets included are usually all you need. For those who don't care what app is doing what, but only care about what port/ip is doing what, I have yet to find a better one on resources.

Sul.

 

You said it in your signature, Look'n'Stop.

 

1.take the router firewall way
2.if a safe surfer xp firewall good enough....no outbound though
3.LnS you already have...you'll hv to ignore people deriding it though
4.if a maverick cyber buff with risky surfing and heavy torrent...ing then mind will always oscillate b/w safety n security....then invest in a secure fw...

 

i was planning on switching from kav to avira, but i hear the firewall in the avira suite doesn't work very well, any comments on the avira firewall?

 

Well you could just use the AV part of avira and use another free firewall.

 

ye but i want to hear exactly why avira's firewall isnt effective?

 

What's wrong with your Look n Stop Firewall? There isn't a FW that I know that is lower resource using than that.

 

nothin wrong with look n stop, im just looking at alternatives + i really need to know what is wrong with avira's firewall?

 

It can be bypassed relatively easy, if there is no 3rd party HIPS or malware is not caught by AV component of Avira, so your private data is in "danger zone".

 

So it just doesn't perform well in leaktests?

 

Not just that, malware can change/delete/add almost everything on host PC if there is no HIPS...etc.

 

There is nothing "wrong" with Avira's firewall, it's just that it is not really very robust.... it won't catch every outbound attempt that can possibly occur, but then again, very few firewalls will, perhaps Comodo is best in that regard. If you're concerned, run the Avira Suite, and add a HIPS to it. That would cover most situations... I think the Avira Firewall is fine as far as it goes...

 

what hips do you suggest in addition to Avira firewall?

 

I don't use them anymore, so I will have to pass on any recommendation. There are many others who do here though, so perhaps somebody will suggest a few of the best.

I have used SSM, ThreatFire, Antibot and tried a few others. In the end, I dropped them due to Vista x64 and also lack of desire for them anymore.. I rely more on images to save the day now.