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What good, free and easy-to-use firewalls are out there?

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Bahir the Red, Oct 17, 2006.

  1. Bahir the Red Gems: 18/31
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    Remove all ads!
    I am in need of one, one that offers good protection and is easy to use. I am in no way cunning when it comes to computers, which seems to pose a problem with many firewalls. I want a feature which makes it easy to mark certain programs as "trusted", to allow them to both download and upload stuff without any problem.

    I've tried:

    Keriko (this one was good, but only a 30 day trial...)
    Jetico Personal Firewall (annoying popups very often)
    NetVeda Safety (couldn't quite figure this thing out)
    Norton (expensive and problematic(not that problematic though, but I had a certain issue with mine)
    Tiny Personal Firewall (tried this one yesterday. The computer I installed it on freezes everytime I boot up the computer. Have yet to solve this problem)
    ZoneAlarm (Looked like an incomplete package)
     
    Bahir the Red, Oct 17, 2006
    #1
  2. Colthrun

    Colthrun Walk first in the forest and last in the bog Veteran

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    I'm using Norton Security Center on my main PC, and ZoneAlarm in the laptop. So far, I have only had gripes with ZA causing my laptop not to get an IP via DHCP from the router every now and again.

    Regarding Norton, I spent about one hour configuring it to my needs just after installation, using pretty much any program I had that could access the internet so that it would add them to the "Allow List" automatically. I haven't had any issues yet.
     
    Colthrun, Oct 17, 2006
    #2
  3. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    It's the dreaded PEBKAC error!

    You abandoned ZoneAlarm... because it looked like an incomplete package?

    ZoneAlarm (the free version) is a bit bloated and very slow to start up, but it does the firewall part rather well.

    Other than that I've used Sygate Personal Firewall and Kerio.
     
    Taza, Oct 17, 2006
    #3
  4. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

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    I've been using the free version of ZoneAlarm for well over a year now, and I've never had a problem with it. :thumb: :rolling:
     
    Kitrax, Oct 18, 2006
    #4

  5. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
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    What are you talking about? It's the commercial version that is a big bag of bloat. ZA free is basically the stripped down, more efficient version of the same, doing nothing but what you want it to do: keeping the malware out.
     
    Wordplay, Oct 18, 2006
    #5
  6. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I use Zone Alarm and my incidents of malicious attacks seems to have vanished since I started using it. Only problem I have (and I don't know if this is applicable to all firewalls) is that if I set it to maximum security, I sometimes lose my internet connection (something do with the ISP not being able to find my PC again if there is an interruption). So when that happens, I have to turn the security down for a moment, and then turn it back up again once the internet comes back up.
     
    Harbourboy, Oct 18, 2006
    #6

  7. Bahir the Red Gems: 18/31
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    I managed to fix the problem, and I uninstalled Tiny PF and installed ZoneAlarm. It seems kinda good actually, at least when it comes to allowing certain programs access to the network (unlike certain other firewalls that didn't do that even when you told them that they should). I hope it's good at intrusion blocking though...
     
    Bahir the Red, Oct 18, 2006
    #7

  8. Erod Gems: 14/31
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    Intrusion blocking should be fine, in fact it is a bit too good as it sometimes blocks traffic that it should let through. Thankfully you can allow the traffic manually, eventhough the basic ZA does not allow much more control than on/off.
     
    Erod, Oct 19, 2006
    #8
  9. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    Zone Alarm Pro is the worst rubbish I can think about - hell, I was so fed up of it that I deliberatly advanced time to end the trial period so I could roll back to the basic ZA. Never had any intrusion problems whatsoever with the free version of ZA. Since installation, it has blocked 1028 access attempts, 100 of them being high-rated.

    Effective.
     
    Disciple of The Watch, Oct 19, 2006
    #9
  10. Taza

    Taza Weird Modmaker Veteran

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    I know the commercial version is much worse - but the free version still has bloat.

    @DotW: My firewall has blocked 14239 intrusion attempts. I don't think any but high-rated say anything about it's effectiveness.
     
    Taza, Oct 19, 2006
    #10
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