XP Firewall VS GhostWall VS GesWall Free

I'm looking for a firewall which is light. And yet, requires little user intervention. Cuz I'm planning to install this firewall on my parents' PC as they have no idea whether to allow or disallow traffic. So, I'm looking at a firewall which can run on its own and basically don't even require any user intervention. One of them is using Vista and the other, XP.

1. Is Windows Firewall sufficient? Or should I replace it with GhostWall or GesWall Free Edition? Is there any advantage using GhostWall or GesWall Free Edition over Windows Firewall?

2. Does GesWall Free Edition requires much user intervention?

3. Do I need to configure GhostWall or GesWall Free Edition before using it? If so, how should I go about doing so? I'm not technically-savvy, so my knowledge is rather limited.

4. Are there any outbound protection firewall which requires no or little user intervention?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

If you don't want them to have to determine whether an app can access the Internet or not, then just stick with the Windows firewall. Ghostwall is rule based and can be difficult to configure if you don't know what you're doing. GeSWall is more of a sandbox type application than an actual firewall, and can give a lot of prompts. Also, for whatever reason when I tried to install GesWall it screwed my system up terribly to the point where nothing worked - had to go into safe mode and do system restore. Other people have had no problems with it, but it can be very noisy, just like a HIPS. Like I said, if you want unintrusive, just stick with the Windows firewall. It is more than sufficient if you just want a set & forget app that stays quiet yet protects their systems.

 

Thanks. I'll stick to Windows Firewall then.

But, what about outbound protection? Does anyone know of any outbound protection firewall which will automatically do all the jobs for u.. and don't require any user intervention?

 

No such product exists or is ever likely to - for decent outbound protection, firewalls need to detect changes to programs and they require user feedback as to whether such a change is legitimate or not.

The closest you can get is to choose one of the top performers (see FirewallLeaktester for some reviews of outbound protection), configure it to allow what your parents need (browser, email, etc) and then lock its settings (to prevent them making mistakes). You will probably also need to disable any automatic updates (including Windows Updates), instead doing them manually on a monthly basis and updating the firewall configuration accordingly (so it recognises any changes made by the updates as legitimate).

As long as your parents' usage patterns are static (i.e. they rarely install new software) this should work well. If they like to experiment more, then they will need to learn something about firewall configuration - starting them off with a "simple" firewall like ZoneAlarm may be a better way forward here (ZA has its downsides, but it does make things as simple as they can be).

 

Hi,

First GeSWall is not a firewall, it is a policy management Sandbox. Current version 2.5 (2.6 will be out soon), is a stable application (ask Aigle, ask Mab69 and many others).

The first time you startup a possible untrusted program (that is a program that could be a threat gate like e-mail, web-browser, P2P, chat, messenger, ect) it asks you whether you want it sandboxed or not (isolated is the term GW uses). Just click yes and select remember choice, that's all no more pop-ups. So when you have 75 different web-browser, chat programs etc, you will be confronted with a lot of pop-ups, normally you will only see a maximum of 5 pop-ups (ordinary users tend to have one or two programs to access the same channels)

Second the firewall being very quite and throwing the lowest amount of pop-ups is Online Armour, a HIPS by design, but also offering outbound protection based on a black and whitelist.

I recon a security setup with a decent Antivirus, Online Armour HIPS+FW and a sandbox like DefenseWall/GesWall is user friendly and offers one of the highest protection levels available.

Regards K

 

what are they using now? is this their first computer? if not do you know for certain the computer is clean? i would perhaps use Prevx1 with Network Protection on in ABC mode, and Windows FW. if the system is clean then they will see the green light and in ABC mode no pop-ups. all trusted will automatically receive access. Windows Firewall will stealth inbound ports. an added bonus is that with Prevx1 they will cotinue to have free outbound protection and maleware detection until a clean-up is needed, and then they will still have an additional 30 days of protection/cleanup after an intial detection. also for the level of protection offered 24.50 is a pretty good bargain, should you ever need to license it. if your folks are smart surfers they might never need to pay for it.

Online Armor is also an excellent choice, offering program control, and an exceptionally easy to use FW in 'Standard' mode pop-ups will remain at a minimum. trusted programs are established by a community database, and internet connectivity is based from that. 30 day trial is available, and after 39.95. even though more expensive than Prevx1, the support offered by Mike Nash and Tallemu is unmatched and will provide your folks with an extra measure of peace of mind. any questions will be answered very quickly and accurately. in fact the whole concept is built from the ground up with "Mum" in mind.


Mike

 

Are there other freewares which are good and requires little/no user intervention?

My dad is using XP Firewall, my mum, Comodo. And, she is complaining. Cuz she don't know what to press when the pop-ups appears. And, always have to ask me whether to block or allow.

 

The XP Firewall and the Vista Firewall will serve your Mom and Dad well.

 

Don,t put them in trouble, and urself too. Just use windows built-in FW.
That,s all they need.

BTW a bit off topic, when i used NIS I found a nice feature that when I run my browsers FF, IE etc first time, the pop up from Norton FW did asked about outbound permission but it was easy to decide even for a novice as on the same popup they said that Allow option is recommended. So I wil say it was highly user friendly FW for a typical home user.
Not sure if any other FW has such default settings. In my opinion the deafult settings of any security software must be highly user friendly( without breaking any functionality of OS or other applications), though for sure these settings will give less protection. It,s very important from marketing point of view as well. Norton products are a good example of it.

 

Thanks!

Other than Firewalls, what do I have to install on their PCs?

I'm planning to install

real-time: SpywareBlaster, SpywareGuard
on-demand: asquared Free, SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition

Is this sufficient?

Are there other apps which I have to install for their security and their internet privacy?
They uses the PC for internet banking you see.

 

I would recommend firefox browser, especially for their banking needs.

 

You didn't mention if they had a router-a hardware firewall might just be the ticket. By my sig. you can tell that I like "set-it-and-forget-it" security also!

 

They cannot use firefox. Cuz java is required for them to view their web pages. And, firefox on my PC somehow cannot seem to be able to view it. Even though, IE does it perfectly.

They're using D-Link's DI-624. Does it has a hardware firewall? I can't seem to find one to set up.

 

I use D-Link also, and the router came with an installation disk. The disk provided a "wizard" to set-up the router and even a tutorial. I don't know about 624, but 604 can be set up to communicate with ZoneAlarmPro. ......support.dlink.com is the place to start

 

With FF you can get an extension called "IE Tab" that should assist you in reading those pages. Opera browser can read java, and can be set-up to be identified as IE. As long as they have java runtime environment (jre), the browsers can read java. FF and Opera tend to be more secure than IE.

 

Can i install ActiveX and run Windows/Microsoft Update using the IE Tab in Firefox too??

 

I've heard some say it is possible, but as I don't have FF installed I can't test. There are alternate ways of getting the updates.

 

Yes you can update windows using the ietab addon for firefox.

 

I can view java applications in Firefox because I installed the Sun Java Runtime version for FF, not the IE version.