What's the best firewall?

[stflook]

This is the 1,000,000th "What is the best firewall?" thread!

*quietly rips out huge handfuls of hair*


I guess I can respond to one of these again.
These are the firewalls I have tried, and the ups and downs I have observed of each.

ZoneAlarm: (freeware) I like this firewall for it's ease of use. It has a very user-friendly interface, and the logging and reporting are both very good. I like its ability to engage its "lock" either on your command or on a timer. Another nice feature of its lock is that you can tell it to let some programs through it. So if you wanted to cut yourself off, but still leave your website up, ZoneAlarm would let you do that. I also like the fact that it can give you details on the activity that it has blocked. It can also alert you when it has blocked activity by either displaying a pop-up, or flashing its icon in the system tray. This firewall is generally best for beginners, or somebody who doesn't feel like taking the time to configure a firewall. You can get this firewall (for Windows) here.

Tiny: (freeware) I like this firewall for its controllability. Unlike ZoneAlarm, Tiny can set rules based on port, protocol, remote address, program, and the direction of the traffic. ZoneAlarm only sets rules by program, unless you get ZoneAlarm Pro. It is also supposedly more secure than ZoneAlarm and BlackICE, but I have never confirmed that. Unlike ZoneAlarm, Tiny will not alert you when you receive an attack, but it can still log the activity it filters. I like the fact that it is always the first application to start (at least on my machine), so there is little chance of some traffic slipping past while the machine is booting up. The only downside (besdes no alerts) is that its interface isn't
newbie-friendly. This firewall is generally best for intermediate to advanced users, or those who need more control than ZoneAlarm can offer. If you're interested, you can download Tiny (for Windows) here.

BlackICE: This firewall is basically the best of both Tiny and ZoneAlarm. Its rule-setting is wonderful. For beginners, there are four basic settings; trusting, cautious, nervous, and paranoid. That's all. For extra control, its advanced rule-setting is much like Tiny's. When you're attacked, it can sound an audible alert, and logs the activity, and will display the attack for you, categorized by severity. If you want, it will let you block the attacker for a set amount of time, or forever. It can alse give you detailed information on the attack, and whether or not it's worth fussing over. I have heard that it doesn't block the Sub 7 trojan, but have not confirmed that, so separate trojan protection with this firewall wouldn't be a bad idea. Other than that, it's a magnificant firewall. You can learn more about BlackICE here.

That having been said, please, everybody, quit posting these threads.

[Manish]

Good Post sftlook.

My recommendation is Tiny Personal Firewall, available from http://www.tinysoftware.com (that was the URL...rite?)

Until others get better....

[pakbehl]

if this is the 1,000,000th "what's the best firewall?" thread, I wasn't around for the old ones so it needed to be asked again. Maybe there should be a page talking about firewalls, or a bigger archive of old posts.

[micael]

I'm currently using PGP Desktop 7.1 with VPN, firewall (IDS), disk and mail encryption. I'm quite satisfied, and the premier bonus is that it's a whole packet of security :-). It's aint free but so far it has been worth the price.

//micael

[psi0nic]

OpenBSD running ipfilter AND a proxy level firewall of your choice.

P.S. OpenBSD has not had a remote exploit (base install with included packages) for over 4 years. Can any OS/firewall app beat that?

[pakbehl]

Thanks ppl. I tried to get the tiny software firewall and when I downloaded it, it turned out to be some trojan trap thing. Did I download the wrong thing or what?
BTW what good FREE firewalls are there, (not trials, i mean completely free.)

[uraloony]

Yes there are good free ones.

ZoneAlarm - Easy to use

http://www.zonelabs.com/

Tiny Personal - Highly configurable

http://www.tinysoftware.com/

[pakbehl]

thanks for that. What sort of configurations do they have, I won't be able to download until the weekend so I must thrive on what people think about them and knowing what they can do.

[ThePreacher]

I just heard about a software firewall that uses linux technology to protect your computer. I think it was called L.E.A.F. Im not exactly sure how it works, but I believe it tricks potential hackers into thinking you are running a linux box while using a windows system.

[[WebCarnage]]

For me...the BEST firewall I've ever used was - and still is for that matter - Zone Alarm Pro. Yea yea yea...it's the paid version. But it's WELL worth the price. This little baby has everything in it from allowing program's priviledged internet rights to hiding all your ports and detecting when even a ping hits you. Gives you their IP address...the port THEY were trying to connect to you too, and the port THEY were going to use if connected. And if you know your trojan port-list, this comes in Very handy.
Tiny is pretty nice too...lot of options to choose for cofigurability. I'm not complaining. But what I really does think wreak havok amoungst computer security is BlackICE. I had a version of that, alas, it was my first *Top 'o the line Firewalls*. And I thought it was very good at first. But then all the beeping...all the alerts got to me. While ZoneAlarm Pro keeps them in their little program, you can configure it to not bleep or pop-up or whatever else it can do. I'm not to sure for BlackICE...BlackICE gave me a flase sense of security too, always told me somebody was trying to break into my computer, when really all I got was a cookie. Not to cool. I thought it was working...for a while. Then I just trashed it. All in all...Zone Alarm Pro is the way to go.

...hey, that rhymed...