[mrblue]

I've finally bought myself a new laptop, its Windows 7 with 4 MB Ram, 350 GB. Lovely.

I don't like the pre-installed McAfee stuff, so when it started asking for money I removed it.

I then realised that there are only a handful of free firewalls that run on Windows 7, and my usual (Online Armor) doesn't work. My machine is 64-bit. I reluctantly intalled Zone Alarm which is fine. On XP it was very hungry on resources, but it seems to be ok now.

I then read some stuff on the web which said that the Windows Firewall was fine. I turned off Zone Alarm, which automatically turned on my Windows Firewall. However, it fails the Leak Test on grc.com (which of course Zone Alarm passes easily).

The question is, does anyone know if there are any Advanced Settings I can tweak within Windows Firewall so that it passes the Leak Test on Outbound connections? I'd like to be able to remove Zone Alarm and just use the Windows firewall, but if it fails the Leak Test then I'll have to keep Zone Alarm.

I'm also using AVG 9 free which seems fine.

Thanks in advance.

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Windows Firewall in Vista and 7 is better than the one in XP, but it's only the bare minimum. Any third-party firewall will be better than Windows Firewall.

[Neil Jones]

Windows Firewall in Vista and 7 is better than the one in XP, but it's only the bare minimum. Any third-party firewall will be better than Windows Firewall.

[dsenette]

I then read some stuff on the web which said that the Windows Firewall was fine.

i'm a pretty staunch microsoft supporter, i really like their products and software. but the windows firewall is as close to useless as anything else. it ONLY blocks one way, inbound. it can't do outbound filtering at all.

as neil said, any 3rd party software will be better

[mrblue]

Thanks for your input.

I've just found "Windows 7 Firewall Control" (http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/)

I disabled my Zone Alarm, and tested the Windows Firewall again, and it has now passed both Shields Up AND Leak Test!!!

It's not really designed for novice users but seems to do the job!!!

I think I'll see how it goes over the next 7 days or so, and then if it satisfies me I'll uninstall Zone Alarm.

"Windows 7 Firewall Control" seems to control outbound traffic perfectly.

Cheers

[mrblue]

I'm so impressed with Windows 7 Firewall Control I've just uninstalled Zone Alarm.

The "help" section said that it works with the Windows Firewall turned on or off!! So I turned the Windows Firewall off, and performed the grc.com Shields Up and Leak Test. It passed both.

Nice piece of software, only 2MB too!!

[Peterkorse12]

I am not much aware about Windows Firewall but it is not good firewall so the use of other firewall is advisable to you. Because as per my knowledge it is not capable to pass the Leak test. And it does not give full protection which should be provided by the common firewall.

[Incoming]

I recommend Comodo Firewall. People've said it is really helpful and does an all around good job, and last I checked it works on Windows 7.

Just out of curiosity, you meant 4GB Ram, right?

[mrblue]

I recommend Comodo Firewall. People've said it is really helpful and does an all around good job, and last I checked it works on Windows 7.

Just out of curiosity, you meant 4GB Ram, right?

Yes, I meant 4GB. It's a Toshiba L450.

Yes, I've used Comodo before and it's fine. But as I've said, "Windows 7 Firewall Control" by Sphinx seems to solve all the deficiencies of basic Windows Firewall. I've been using it for a few days now and its absolutely fine. It passed all the tests! It's NOT very user friendly though, and novice users will probably be confused. It took me a little while to work it out. However, advanced users will have no problem with it.