PC Tools Firewall Plus (Free)

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February 5th, 2010, 12:23 PM
HAN

PC Tools Firewall Plus (Free)

I haven't noticed anything lately about this firewall so I thought I'd mention it. The current version is 6.0.0.88 and it is proving to be an excellent firewall for me.

I had been running a slightly older version of Comodo (3.0 I think) and getting along fine but with the new Avast 5, Comodo was flagging the definition updates as files that needed to be checked. I didn't want the keep clearing these file lists and I knew that the newer versions of Comodo are just huge beasts. I wanted something simpler. So I looked into PC Tools Firewall Plus. http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

I am very glad I did. It is much easier to make sense of than Comodo, yet it can be made highly granular if you want it to be. It tests just as secure as Comodo for both firewall duties and intrusion (receiving a 100% score @ Matousec's site http://www.matousec.com/projects/pro...ge/results.php

So, if you are in the market for something more than just a simple 2-way firewall (like free ZoneAlarm), consider PC Tools. It's a winner in my book...
February 5th, 2010, 03:41 PM
fink

Hmm, I just tried it and all of the gui windows incl popup notifications are cut off at the right and bottom not allowing me to click any buttons incl close and mimimize. Resizing the ones that are resizable doesn't help it only makes them larger without exposing the controls.

I tried every way I know to maximize/minimize/deny/allow/etc all those windows but they refuse to cooperate.

I had to uninstall it to close the little notification windows.

(Using Windows 7)
February 5th, 2010, 08:35 PM
stevejr

I am also using the PC Tools firewall, the free version, and I am very satisfied with it.
February 6th, 2010, 12:05 AM
HAN

Wow fink! Very odd! I'm currently running it on XP but it is supposed to be fully Win 7 ready, including 64 bit. It's under very active development so if this is a common bug, I imagine they would address something like this serious pretty quick...
February 6th, 2010, 05:33 AM
SpywareDr

Quote:

Originally Posted by fink

Hmm, I just tried it and all of the gui windows incl popup notifications are cut off at the right and bottom not allowing me to click any buttons incl close and mimimize. Resizing the ones that are resizable doesn't help it only makes them larger without exposing the controls.

Is your DPI set higher than 100%?
February 6th, 2010, 11:42 AM
fink

Quote:

Is your DPI set higher than 100%?

Yes.. maybe thats' the reason. It's at 125% (eyes aren't what they used to be LOL). Doesn't affect other progs though and unless there's a workaround to fix it for pctools by itself I don't see constantly decreasing/increasing DPI just to be able to deal with one program.

It was just a test anyway and I can live without trying it again.
February 6th, 2010, 02:10 PM
HAN

Changing DPI seems to be here and there on which apps it affects and which it doesn't. Rather than change DPI, I usually change the display resolution. But I know this can make things fuzzy on some monitors, so there may be no good way to handle this type of situation...
February 6th, 2010, 02:20 PM
fink

I have a wide screen display and would rather not use a non-native resolution since that would skew things out of relative placement the way I have things set up.