[bobletman]

Hey guys. This has never really been a really important topic with me but I feel like using a different firewall. Right now I am using the windows firewall. Can anyone recommend another firewall other then nortons because nortons wont let you do anything. I want a firewall that will give me enough space to do stuff and wont give me a message that an intruder is getting in my computer because i opened msn.

[Advertisements]

Wow, you're using the PS2 firewall? get out of that lol It's the weakest firewall I've ever seen. I suggest Zone Alarm. It's free, and it's a great firewall CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ... Give it a shot

[Facedown98]

Wow, you're using the PS2 firewall? get out of that lol It's the weakest firewall I've ever seen. I suggest Zone Alarm. It's free, and it's a great firewall CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ... Give it a shot

[bobletman]

I know its a weak firewall but you should see the protection I have with my anti virus,spyware, adware etc.

[Facedown98]

Nonetheless, you should have a good firewall. You can never be too careful. Give Zone Alarm a try

[Michael]

I personally recommend the Kerio personal Firewall. It runs on a lot less memory than ZoneAlarm (ZoneAlarm uses 3 times as much) You can get if from http://www.sunbelt-s...e.com/Kerio.cfm

It turns off all the stuff I disable anyway after 30 days, if you don't pay for it.

[bobletman]

Thanks i will try it and zone alarm does use a lot the moment i start up my computer the cpu usage goes to 90-100 percent and it lags a bit

[warriorscot]

I just stopped using an extra software firewall, between the windows one, the nice light weight one that comes with Avast AV and the 3 hardware firewalls between me and the wilds of the outside net ive never had a problem.

[bobletman]

Right now I use avast antivirus and that seems to be enough all the firewalls Ive had are pretty much useless, they are only good if you want to stop a virus from sending information in or out of your computer.

[warriorscot]

Well the Avast firewall is a good anti infection measure most firewalls i have used in the past couldn't do anything about a virus until it infected you, Avast managed to pick up allot of nasties before they got in. And since most people use routers these days they have a hardware firewall and most modern motherboards have at least one hardware firewall as well.

[Mr.Chow]

How good are hardware firewalls ? Are any good enough to use and not have a software firewall on your computer ?!?!

[bobletman]

if you are careful enough you dont even need a firewall, a firewall has oinly saved my once or twice but thats it. I believe the software firewall is better then the hardware because with the software you tend to be able to manipulate it more and it gets updated and things that come built in like hardware firewalls usually arent as great as when you go and pay for it seperately. If you are going for a secure computer I would go with software.

[warriorscot]

Hardware and software firewalls do fairly different jobs, Hardware firewalls tend to better protect against big stuff, like attacks from another PC, what software firewalls these days do is scan your incoming packets for malware they dont do all the much else really other than annoy you. They have their uses but apart from the lightweight one with my AV and windows i dont and wont use one personally the protection isnt worth the performance drop and the protection isnt all that much better to justify that to me.

The best security for your PC isnt a firewall or an AV its you most computers get infected with malware because of the user.

[SNOWHITE]

Hi
Just to clear up the confusion here about the "avast firewall" and to prevent future misunderstandings.

First of all avast! doesn't have Firewall included, what you think that is a Firewall actually is the Network Shield which is a special designed provider (resident protection module) that acts like a shield and prevents Internet worms and attacks to your computer, this is Intrusion Detection System, but not a full Firewall and it cant protect you from every attack to your computer. My advise to you is to get and install some Firewall or at least you can enable the XP integrated firewall.
BTW the Network Shield can be only used in NT based systems, not on others.

The best security for your PC isnt a firewall or an AV its you most computers get infected with malware because of the user.

Actually this is very correct

[warriorscot]

Yeah avast is a lightweight firewall(sure i mentioned that), it basically protects against everything a hardware firewall doesnt.

[Johanna]

Okay, pulling rank here.

if you are careful enough you dont even need a firewall

NOT TRUE!!

A firewall is absolutely necessary. If you are online, you should be running one, period. I don't care if you have a router, are on a network, have psychic powers to prevent damage- you need a firewall, even if it's just the built in XP one. That said, the more important your computer is to you, the more you will demand of your firewall. A better firewall will allow you to decide how to alert you, will permit you to configure it to your needs and will log all activity for your information. It will block unauthorized incoming and outgoing traffic, but let your computer communicate to your printer and other computers. If you are constantly shutting off your firewall to make diagnostics, you have selected the wrong firewall for you. A firewall should be unobtrusive, lightweight, dependable and seldom, if ever, shut off, and only in extreme diagnostic emergencies. Common sense is always better protection than software, but good software is like an insurance policy. Consider your needs before you select the type and brand, and your level of experience. The users I support usually wind up getting Norton from me. It's bulky, cranky, but I can set it to be pretty close to idiot proof, give it a password the "average user" can't mess with it, break it, or change the security prompts and settings. I can then forget about it, and it cuts down on the panicked phone calls. None of my Norton folks have ever gotten infected with anything they didn't click to accept. Sigh. I still use Norton because I support it so much, and I'm not planning to do another clean install until I go to Vista next year. Browse the malware forums and see what the experts there suggest to help you make the right choice.

Johanna

Ten Laws Of Computer Security