Firewalls

[Appless]

I'm thinking of getting a firewall and want to know which one is best. I've heard that zone alarm is good.

Any other suggestions?

[Samuraid]

Zonealarm is quite good. If you have windows XP service pack 2, you can also use windows firewall (although it does very little about outbound connections...and thus is only ½ of the way secure).

[Dr Unne]

Buy a router. They're cheap and they're better than software firewalls in many ways. Plus they serve as a router.

[Zante]

I'm using Kerio personal firewall. You can download a 30days trial to test it.

[crono_logical]

Kerio personal firewall version 2 is free (which is what I use), unlike the latest version.

Zonealarm is probably best for the average user due to it's simple interface, but personally, I wouldn't touch it :p

[Appless]

So either get kerio personal firewall version 2 or a router right?

[crono_logical]

Only get Kerio if you understand stuff like port numbers, IP addresses, incoming and outgoing connections and their differences, firewall rules and the importance of getting them in the right order, TCP/UDP, ICMP, and other stuff like that, or you'll have a problem configuring it :p

[Baloki]

Norton Internet Security, with a little TLC that baby runs like a charm and doesn't kill networks :)

[crono_logical]

Unfortunately, Norton kills system resources instead, so you better have a half decent computer if you pick them :p

[Appless]

My computer's crap so I don't think I'll go with norton

[meowwl]

Norton works for me..had it for 3 years, on 2 different computers and have gotten exactly 3 viruses in that time..and all 3 times my sister had disabled it to download something.

[crono_logical]

A virus scanner and firewall are different.

[Baloki]

I've found the firewall isn't too system resource consuming, if your running XP your usually fine, but then you have to spend a good 10 mins setting it up else it does go around blocking the wrong things.

[Citizen Bleys]

Norton Internet Security is a giant, steaming heap of bat feces. Don't buy it unless you have a gun held to your head.

Ignore Baka-loki. He just forgot to add the "yet" to the end of the sentence when he said he hasn't had any problems. He will, it's only a matter of time.

I work in tech support, and I get calls every single day because Norton has b0rked something or other. Usually it likes to change your email settings so all your email servers are set to "localhost." Which is fine if you're an ISP. If you're anybody else, that's bad news. And even better, if it doesn't change your email client settings it just creates entries in your PC's HOSTS file that maps all pop and smtp server settings to localhost so that the problem persists even after you grab a brain and dump Norton.

Additionally, Norton Internet Security also loads ccApp in memory. ccApp is a portion of Norton Antivirus, so it will b0rk any non-Norton antivirus product you may try to use. Also, ccApp prevents any SSL-enabled outgoing email, so if you want to have ccApp running, you have to send all your email unencrypted so that just anybody with a packet sniffer (takes 10 minutes to find on Google. If you have the IQ of cheese) can read all of your personal email.

Lastly, the firewall component of Norton likes to cause inexplicable Connect Can't Browse issues. In layman's terms, this means that even if you're fully connected to the internet, with full sync on your modem, and you can ping any web server on the internet, you can't view any pages, no matter if you're using Firefox or McBrowser. I don't know how it does it or why, but it solves the problem 100% of the time if you go into msconfig and disable all components of Norton.

Don't believe somebody who's had the dumb luck to not have a problem with one of the most notorious pieces of crap software on the open market. Believe someone who works 9.5 hours per day in tech support and has heard it all.

Unne's right. Get a router. That's all the firewall you should ever need, and it doesn't suck up system resources like a Hanoi prostitute.

[Baloki]

Routers are the best option I admit, but its not dumb luck I've had, its because I actually spend the time to set these things up rather then clicking the big button saying "OMG CLICK HERE FOR DEFAULT SETTINGS WHICH NEVER WORK BECAUSE NO COMPUTER IS PERFECT!". If you do just go for defult settings its bound not to work.

However if you make the effort to go through each and every option and also make the effort to turn off the crap features (such as privacy control and e-mail filtering) its a damn'd good piece of software. Just because most people don't take the time to actually install their software properly doesn't mean its the softwares fault.

And the non-connect issue is something called 'script-blocking', kill that and usually everythings fine.

[Citizen Bleys]

My grandfather had the whole dratted firewall turned off, and Norton still had stubs of itself resident in memory anyways which prevented any browsing with any browser

[Baloki]

I thought it was well known that Windows had trouble with Nortons Script blocking add-on...

[crono_logical]

Since you were bothered to make the effort, Baloki, go and install Gentoo. :monster:

[Baloki]

Since you were bothered to make the effort, Baloki, go and install Gentoo. :monster:

Send me a copy and I will :p

[Dr Unne]

http://www.gentoo.org

[Baloki]

I don't have a pen-drive big enough to copy it. I might order it on CD though *Goes to check the prices*

Edit: $35 plus delievery, OW! I can't afford that and I can't download it as I don't have my own net connection :(

[Citizen Bleys]

If you don't have a net connection, why the devil are you expending huge amounts of system resources with a firewall?

[Mirage]

Yeah, $35 is WAY too much for an operating system!

[Baloki]

Yeah, $35 is WAY too much for an operating system!

When you can dowload it for free, why yes it is.


If you don't have a net connection, why the devil are you expending huge amounts of system resources with a firewall?

And why am I? Because it uses next to none of my system resources, so I'm happy just to leave it there with its nice intigrated Anti-virus and wait till I get a proper net connection back in a few months.

[Appless]

How much do routers cost?

[Baloki]

Wireless router:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=356891113&action=c2VsZWN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=130021

Hardwired (Ordinary) Router:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=356892385&action=c2VsZWN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=11855

[Appless]

Sorry, the second link didn't work. That's the one I'd probably have to go with.

[Mirage]

Baloki: But you can't download it for free :p.

[Baloki]

Sorry, the second link didn't work. That's the one I'd probably have to go with.

Hardware ones are about $40-50


Baloki: But you can't download it for free :p.

And I can't afford $40 just to play around with it :p

[crono_logical]

Gentoo's not really too good over other distros unless you have an internet connection on the machine it's installed on anyway to do all the nice updating and stuff :p

Still though, using a software firewall just because it's integrated with something else you use even though you don't have a connection is stupid, even more so when it's bloated/resource hungry software. You might as well turn on the XP firewall while you're at it by your reasoning.

[Baloki]

Gentoo's not really too good over other distros unless you have an internet connection on the machine it's installed on anyway to do all the nice updating and stuff :p

Still though, using a software firewall just because it's integrated with something else you use even though you don't have a connection is stupid, even more so when it's bloated/resource hungry software. You might as well turn on the XP firewall while you're at it by your reasoning.



Norton is just fine for my need :p

[Citizen Bleys]

And why am I? Because it uses next to none of my system resources

Then you're not running Norton, or you don't know enough about your PC to find where it's draining system resources, and are attributing the slow speeds that you're getting to something totally unrelated.

I blamed the slowness of my grandfather's PC on HP for making crappy computers (which they legitimately do) for over a year. Then all of the sudden, he had a CCB issue -- caused by Norton -- so I replaced it with AVG it and the whole thing doubled in speed instantly. It's still a bucket of crap, because it's HP, but it's not an overflowing bucket of crap anymore. It's almost a decent PC.

[Appless]

Finally is there anything I need to know about configuring a router?

[Baloki]

Then you're not running Norton, or you don't know enough about your PC to find where it's draining system resources, and are attributing the slow speeds that you're getting to something totally unrelated.

I blamed the slowness of my grandfather's PC on HP for making crappy computers (which they legitimately do) for over a year. Then all of the sudden, he had a CCB issue -- caused by Norton -- so I replaced it with AVG it and the whole thing doubled in speed instantly. It's still a bucket of crap, because it's HP, but it's not an overflowing bucket of crap anymore. It's almost a decent PC.

I'm happy with my system not even hitting half my reasources even when I'm playing two DVD's via Windows Media Player :p

[Appless]

How good is your computer then? Mine struggles just playing one DVD.

[I Don't Need A Name]

Nortons Personal firewall is good

[Citizen Bleys]

Only if by "good" you mean "utter crap"

[Baloki]

How good is your computer then? Mine struggles just playing one DVD.

Oh you know 3 GHz duel processor with 512 megs of RAM and a 256 video card, pritty much the standard nowadays :)

[Citizen Bleys]

Duel processor? It actually engages in hand-to-hand combat?

[Baloki]

Duel processor? It actually engages in hand-to-hand combat?

Well ok, more uses light tanks...