Firewall, which one works best?

[CincyJim]

Lately I've been having trouble with ZoneAlarm. As of this instant the icon indicated the 'net is blocked/locked BOTH ways, but I am surfing anyway???

Gibson's (grc.com) "Leak Test" easily penetrates ZoneAlarm, as does Gibson's shield checker.

I like the animated icon ZA has.

Can anyone tell me of a firewall that only allows out/in what should get out/in?

P.S. Is my problem easily fixable? No, I don't want to do Zone Lab's work.

[Ridgerunr]

Used ZA for years until it became bloatware and unreliable imo. Now I use and suggest Comodo . It offers a virus program during install,but I have CA Antivir so I don't use it.

[CincyJim]

Thanks.

I'll give Comodo a try & let you know the outcome.

[frebo]

same here on comodo, works great, i use firewall and antivirus

[CincyJim]

I tried Comodo and it worked. I did NOT like the static icon as I luved ZA's animated one that let me know if traffic was moving. I do NOT trust computers, they are too easy to screw with!

I found out that my problem with ZA was due to XPLite removing ZA needed Windows files. Straight XP (SP3) allows ZA to work as advertised.

AV? I use Norton's and am satisfied.

[fink]

You can animate the comodo icon although default setting is on.
right click the systray icon and enable animation.

[casper99]

I have been using Agnitum's Outpost since it first came out. There are free & paid for versions of it. Has always worked without any problems. There is a great support site in case someone wants to make it even more solid, but the default settings will do for most anyway, It's rated top of the line by several reviews. Much lower memory use than others already mentioned.If you try it out, I recommend letting it use the rules wizard for the first week. Also great Company support for the paid version too.

[CincyJim]

I've yet to find a firewall that does NOT respond to a "ping", thereby announcing to the whole hacker world "Here I am, come & screw with me!"

I'm seriously considering a firewall appliance IF I can get what I want for US $300, or less.

I saw a firewall appliance online that claimed to be just what I wanted but did not find a price for it anywhere. Prior establishment of what may get out & in. No changes to the established rules without the physical key, I lubs dat! NO response to a ping, true invisibility to the whole www. Now to try to remember that name.

************

Right now I'm using "Online Armour's" firewall and it does half-way. It DOES, strictly control what gets out of my machine, AND gives me absolute control of any activity that I have not, knowingly, started. BUT, as with ZoneAlarm & Comodo, it DOES reply to a "ping" generated by www.grc.com's ShieldsUP device, even though I've instructed it to be invisible to the www.

[CincyJim]

LuciGate Firewall

"Hackerproof
The LuciGate Firewall is a piece of dedicated hardware (sometimes referred to as a Firewall Appliance) that sits between your network and the outside world. Without its smartcard key, it will not allow ANY data to pass through it. It is not based on a PC and it cannot be configured remotely. This is a deliberate design feature - THE LUCIGATE FIREWALL WILL NOT RESPOND TO ANYTHING. In fact users of the network will not know that it is there. Because it will not respond to network messages, it cannot be interfered with. Only the smartcard key holds the setup information, and the outside world has no access to it."

http://www.lucidata.com/firewall.htm

Now to see if I can get a price.

[Ridgerunr]

You can also use a router with NAT(Network Address Translation) and as far as incoming is concerned,you will be invisible to the internet.
Example: your choice ...

[CincyJim]

I've reached the conclusion that the software firewalls available to me (ZoneAlarm, Comodo, Outpost, Armour) all let the OS reply to a ping advertising the presence of my computer & the entryway. The hardware box I mentioned, LuciGate, only cost about 995 GBP (~$2000). LuciGate advised me of ZyXel as a lower cost firewall for the home. I am thinking of the ZyXel 660H for less than $70.

??? <$20 for a firewall appliance? Does that price make sense to you?

Does anyone test their firewall to determine if the firewall is truly invisible to hackers? Steve Gibson offers a program (ShieldsUp) that test firewalls for responses to a ping.

[fink]

Less than 70 is what I'd consider paying for a home firewall. I'd expect it to be a pretty good one for home use. Most routers and modems have firewalls built in and they cost around the same or a bit less even.

I've tested my systems to see if they're pingable and generally they aren't (with some pre-router systems the exception, a few years ago) but I wasn't really that concerned one way or the other. So long as the ports are closed (existing but only able to be seen) is/was the most important thing. Stealth is ideal, though, and my setup is currently in that state.

[frebo]

i am running the windows 7 firewall and a router ,the results from gibson on my pc is stealth all passed

[TheTechWizards]

Most novice users purchase firewalls and have only a small idea what to block and what to let in. You need experience to utilise them properly. With this in mind, I usually recommend using comodo to people who aren't clued up.

If you are not too confident, use comodo. It is a solid firewall and has a 'self-learning' function that will build up rules that will keep you on the right track.

Comodo 2.4 is the well polished version. v_3.0 was rushed and is best avoided.

Good luck

[themanwhowas]

I don't think you need to worry too much if people can ping you unless you're running a black ops datacentre or something. If the relevant ports are restricted/unrestricted then the firewall should be sufficient.