Which Firewall?

Most hardware firewalls will protect you. Software firewalls just give you that added protection letting you know who-is trying to connect to you. I see most of you believe not to run a software firewall. If you ever had someone try to connect to your system without you knowing then I bet you'll go back to the software firewall. Until I/O can be better monitored then most of what we have today can protect the system. I like Rising Internet Security runs lite, and I know it didn't do well in Comodo Leak test but those test are more geared for Comodo though. PC Tools Firewall Plus is a bit flaky to me.

I am seeing issue with Comodo and Outlook 2007 it seems to be blocking SMTP connections all of a sudden.

 

Hence why you look at the memory and the CPU aspect of the program find out how it works. Low CPU low Memory and good protection = Win/Win if the program you are looking at fits your taste.

 

Im having some weird problems with PC Tools FW Plus. For some reason uTorrent is blocked even though in the settings it has full internet access and program access. It also says I have an invalid subscription status, but Im using the free version.

 

Did you register your PC Tools FW Plus, I did years ago still works. Still I too had a problem with utorrents with PTFWP way back when I had used it. There is a fix on the PCTools forum. Post your request there or search for it. They have some sort of rule for torrents.

 

You can log the connection with a hardware firewall!

 

Logging it wont help. Its set to allow ALL traffic through uTorrent. UDP and TCP traffic. Theres no reason it should be blocked at all.

 

Alright well PC Tools is getting tossed out. It refuses to update and says I have an invalid subscription when in fact I dont have one at all. Yes I am using the free version. I tried Outpost Free again and it caused 2 BSODs trying to running BF2. Thats out of the question now. Any new ones I should consider or maybe older ones that have had recent updates?

 

Thanks for the info, i was going to give Rising a try on Win7 but might hold off.

I have Outpost Pro but don't like it, and only a single license for Malware Defender but it's on my XP partition so was looking at Rising.

Have you thought about getting an old PC and setting it up as a dedicated firewall considering resource usage is a concern and your running out of software options?

Edit: Scratch that, been mentioned.

 

Nope. Way to much of a hassle for what Im looking for. Besides I use my laptop at school and a firewall would be necessary there.

 

I had alot of problems with PC Tools on my Vista laptop. For some reason it kept some of my apps from opening. I had rules created and that wasnt the problem, there was some kind of conflict. But I still run it on my XP machine and out of the 4 most popular freebies(outpost, OA, Comodo, PCT) its definately my favorite. Neways decided to test a new one and am currently running Fort Knox firewall and I am happy with it. But it is a little heavier on resources than some.

 

I tried that. It lagged in the control panel where you configure it. I immediately uninstalled it.

 

Hi Folks,

I have a 32 bit Vista. I was wondering if the following defence is the best that I can have:

Comodo Firewall Pro 3.0 (minus D+)- Build 25.378, Avast Anti-Virus 4.8 Pro, Spywareblaster, Ccleaner, Spybot Search and Destroy.

Does this defence mechanism sound robust ?
1. Is Comodo the best firewall available?
2. I also have an option to go for Vipre, AVG and Avira Anti-virus mechanisms.
3. What other anti-spywares should I consider?
4. What am I missing?

I will appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks,
Sudeep

 

First wrong thread. Second Spybot sucks. Super Antispyware or MBAM are better choices. Spywareblaster does the same thing as Spybots immunize feature. Viper IMHO is much better than AVG or Avast. Now the ones that you want to run are based on individual needs and system specs. Everyone always tells me testing them out is the best way to find what works for you.