Hm. Question.

[conuly]

Are some firewalls better than others? What's the best free one? I use two different anti-virus programs (not at the same time). Is it wise to also have two firewalls running, or is that just overkill? Why am I posting in the middle of the night, again?

Comments

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

Why am I posting in the middle of the night, again?

So I'll have something to read on my friends page?


Too bad I don't know the answer to your question.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

Two firewalls would interfere with each other, much like two antiviruses.

Windows firewall sucks.

Out of the 3-4 firewalls I've tried(including Zone Alarm, Nortons & forget the the others), Zone Alarm is the best(& has a free version).
Nortons was too automated & hard to configure.

[push-the-limits.livejournal.com]

I've heard that trying to run 2 firewalls at the same time is bad.
Try ZoneAlarm. I used to have that one, but it drove me nuts, because not only would it not let anyone it, it wouldn't let ME out! I'm sure it's better now, though, this was a few years ago.

[push-the-limits.livejournal.com]

What she said. *look up* She just hit "post comment" sooner than I did. :p

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

:-) Amazing that we said virtually the same thing.

[push-the-limits.livejournal.com]

Great minds think alike. Muahahahahaaa!

[boredinsomniac.livejournal.com]

you got thanked. (http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=397015) I can't post this in supportlounge due to site problems, but I thought you'd like to know. =)

[rachelkachel]

Someone told me I didn't need Zonealarm anymore once I had the Windows firewall (with Service Pack 2) and I gratefully uninstalled it because it was questioning every component of every program. Now my school is offering some other firewall that I haven't bothered to install yet because it looks complicated. :P Bad Rachel, but meh. I did that scan someone on NC posted earlier, and it turned up nothing, but that doesn't really tell me about my personal firewall - I assume there's one on the network here at home.

In summary, I don't know much; ZoneAlarm is good; as said above, two firewalls together won't work.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

If you're on cable/DSL, I'd say go with a cheap router that has a built-in firewall -- the software ones are a massive PITA that require quite a bit of configuration/reconfiguration/patching/problems. It's the difference between constant maintenance plus hours of setup vs. plugging the thing in and walking away.

Back when I was on 56k dial-up, I liked the firewall Norton offered, as well as ZoneAlarm. I also usually ran BlackIce as a backup... Not something I'd want to deal with again, since I hated doing all the configuration stuff (especially when the firewall would knock one or another service out), but as far as functionality they were okay.

I think there's also an open-source/freeware firewall out there, along the lines of AVG Anti-Virus, but I don't know offhand what it is called.

[malantha.livejournal.com]

I second the router thing!

[zathras26.livejournal.com]

So do I. Having the firewall on a separate machine in front of your computer is more secure.

[deceptica]

I used to use ZoneAlarm until I found out about a quirk it had that completely freaked me out. Apparently you have to remove all the rules you created before uninstalling it, or you won't be able to connect to the internet again at all. *shudders* They might have fixed that by now, though.

Personally I use Outpost Firewall right now and have been pretty happy with it. Every now and then it glitches and also starts blocking everything, but simply turning it off and on again fixes that.

[maelorin]

seems we all agree on the zone alarm option ...

since i'm sitting behind zone alarm and a firewall router [512k adsl], the only thing i can add to this is to comment that with router+za, i have only six recorded access attempts in six weeks. zero successes. [my isp has me on a fixed ip address]

zone alarm is good.

two software firewalls would be bad.

[redlami.livejournal.com]

I've had good luck with ZoneAlarm, and have used it at home and at work for at least three years. That said, I just got a wireless router essentially for free after rebates (which will come eventually). Not only has it got a firewall but it does NAT which makes you a lot more secure since nobody can see your internal IP address. And you don't have to use the wireless part of it, it also has 4 wired ports.

[deathchibi.livejournal.com]

Hardware firewalls are the best, but multiple firewalls will get on each other's case. Zone Alarm seems pretty faithful to me. And I have no idea. :) Norton isn't free these days, but I keep it running because it's worked for me so far. I adore my XP running laptop.

[narfer.livejournal.com]

kaspersy anti hacker is some quality software. and its not bloated and overengineered.

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

Why am I posting in the middle of the night, again?

So I'll have something to read on my friends page?


Too bad I don't know the answer to your question.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

Two firewalls would interfere with each other, much like two antiviruses.

Windows firewall sucks.

Out of the 3-4 firewalls I've tried(including Zone Alarm, Nortons & forget the the others), Zone Alarm is the best(& has a free version).
Nortons was too automated & hard to configure.

[push-the-limits.livejournal.com]

I've heard that trying to run 2 firewalls at the same time is bad.
Try ZoneAlarm. I used to have that one, but it drove me nuts, because not only would it not let anyone it, it wouldn't let ME out! I'm sure it's better now, though, this was a few years ago.

[push-the-limits.livejournal.com]

What she said. *look up* She just hit "post comment" sooner than I did. :p

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

:-) Amazing that we said virtually the same thing.

[push-the-limits.livejournal.com]

Great minds think alike. Muahahahahaaa!

[boredinsomniac.livejournal.com]

you got thanked. (http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=397015) I can't post this in supportlounge due to site problems, but I thought you'd like to know. =)

[rachelkachel]

Someone told me I didn't need Zonealarm anymore once I had the Windows firewall (with Service Pack 2) and I gratefully uninstalled it because it was questioning every component of every program. Now my school is offering some other firewall that I haven't bothered to install yet because it looks complicated. :P Bad Rachel, but meh. I did that scan someone on NC posted earlier, and it turned up nothing, but that doesn't really tell me about my personal firewall - I assume there's one on the network here at home.

In summary, I don't know much; ZoneAlarm is good; as said above, two firewalls together won't work.

[moggymania.livejournal.com]

If you're on cable/DSL, I'd say go with a cheap router that has a built-in firewall -- the software ones are a massive PITA that require quite a bit of configuration/reconfiguration/patching/problems. It's the difference between constant maintenance plus hours of setup vs. plugging the thing in and walking away.

Back when I was on 56k dial-up, I liked the firewall Norton offered, as well as ZoneAlarm. I also usually ran BlackIce as a backup... Not something I'd want to deal with again, since I hated doing all the configuration stuff (especially when the firewall would knock one or another service out), but as far as functionality they were okay.

I think there's also an open-source/freeware firewall out there, along the lines of AVG Anti-Virus, but I don't know offhand what it is called.

[malantha.livejournal.com]

I second the router thing!

[zathras26.livejournal.com]

So do I. Having the firewall on a separate machine in front of your computer is more secure.

[deceptica]

I used to use ZoneAlarm until I found out about a quirk it had that completely freaked me out. Apparently you have to remove all the rules you created before uninstalling it, or you won't be able to connect to the internet again at all. *shudders* They might have fixed that by now, though.

Personally I use Outpost Firewall right now and have been pretty happy with it. Every now and then it glitches and also starts blocking everything, but simply turning it off and on again fixes that.

[maelorin]

seems we all agree on the zone alarm option ...

since i'm sitting behind zone alarm and a firewall router [512k adsl], the only thing i can add to this is to comment that with router+za, i have only six recorded access attempts in six weeks. zero successes. [my isp has me on a fixed ip address]

zone alarm is good.

two software firewalls would be bad.

[redlami.livejournal.com]

I've had good luck with ZoneAlarm, and have used it at home and at work for at least three years. That said, I just got a wireless router essentially for free after rebates (which will come eventually). Not only has it got a firewall but it does NAT which makes you a lot more secure since nobody can see your internal IP address. And you don't have to use the wireless part of it, it also has 4 wired ports.

[deathchibi.livejournal.com]

Hardware firewalls are the best, but multiple firewalls will get on each other's case. Zone Alarm seems pretty faithful to me. And I have no idea. :) Norton isn't free these days, but I keep it running because it's worked for me so far. I adore my XP running laptop.

[narfer.livejournal.com]

kaspersy anti hacker is some quality software. and its not bloated and overengineered.