Which is the best firewall to use?

Had trouble with Zonealarm. Trying to figure out which I should switch to.

[Compworld]

Hi all,

I finally corrected that computer freezing problem, and know trying to figure out which firewall I should now use.

1) Go back to Zone Alarm
2) Black Ice
3) Norton Personal Firewall
4) Keiro Personal Firewall

Thanks,

CompWorld

[MonkeeSage]

I use BlackIce. I am pleased with it. Has heuristic packet analysis and some other nice stuff, but not terribly bloated.

Jordan

[Dreamquick]

Are we talking about a modem connection or a broadband connection?

While software firewalls are sufficient for modems you'd be better off investing in a router / hardware firewall if you have broadband.

- Tony

[RobinC]

On ADSL I've been using Norton with no problems, I've also got a hardware firewall, but as I run servers there are still quite a few "problems" that get through it to the software firewall...

I've got to say I haven't tried any other firewall on the windoze box, but for sheer "turn it on and forget about it 99% of the time" norton does the trick ;-)

[Sinner_G]

Yep, Norton here too, changed to that after I had trouble with ZoneAlarm and McAfee.

[Compworld]

I had a Cisco router, but was having a lot of problems with it. Then switched to Zone Alarm, and it brought down my main XP system, and it took days to correct. I am currently using Norton, but it seems that when Zone Alarm was working, it had alerted me to more "issues" than Norton currently does. I was thinking about having two on, but I have mixed feelings on that. I was thinking that if I use two of them, then they could be interfering with each other, hence opening a possible "issue". I guess the old adage doesn't work with software firewalls; two firewalls are better than one.
Oh well.

Thanks for the advice guys.

CompWorld

[anallawalla]

I use and recommend Kerio Personal Firewall (which I think was once known as Tiny PF). I am also behind a Netgear router/firewall, which keeps out most nasties.

[mcavill]

Norton as well on an ADSL connection

[jbinbpt]

Very happy with linksys

[vincevincevince]

i had problems with zonealarm, now i use zonealarm pro, it's a lot better

[Compworld]

Zone Alarm Pro 4.0 caused my system to crash drastically. Be careful, very careful.

CompWorld

[PatrickDeese]

I use Norton Internet Security (NIS) - which is there AV and FW "suite" - IMHO NAV is the best on the market and NIS does the job - anyhow they're cheaper together than separately.

[lorax]

FWIW - I run both a router/firewall appliance and Zone Alarm. Have no complaints.

[sun818]

I use Kero FireWall 2.1.5 - their version 3.x is bloated and prefer to keep it lean. Freeware. :)

[5TillFree]

These firewalls may fail the leak test for IE (or other web-enabled apps) spoofing.

*** I HIGHLY reccommend that you TEST YOUR FIREWALL ***

Do a web search for "firewall leak test" to find a freeware leak tester.

Outpost Pro 2 & Kerio4 beta are the only Firewalls I KNOW are secure. (Kerio4 is a great firewall but it is still in beta and SHOULD NOT be used - it has a time limit before it will expire.)

[Fiver]

for a long while I used "tiny personal firewall" because it has a tiny footprint.

check your system with shields up at www.grc.com

[Shane]

I use Keiro Personal Firewall but I have some concerns. When I log on I see the little modem at the bottom right not lighting up and my system slows down. However, if I look at the Keiro status page Kerio shows the system is transmitting and receiving data. I have a suspicion that Kerio is reporting to its' mother ship.

Does anyone know if Kerio reports back to its' creator what it has seen on your computer. Is it sending other material?

If it does, what firewall for money would you recommend?

Thanks,
Shane