wich is the best software firewall ???

[micael]

One of my personal firewalls for windows are Outpost. And for *nix FWTK.

For corporate protection Cisco, FW-1, BorderManager.

A long time ago in the beginning of this universe did I write a short text about Personal Firewalls and other. It's more like a link collection with a few comments then a tutorial. Anyway you can find the document here.

~micael

[optiq]

I'm a tiny personal firewall nut for windows and a basic lazy iptable set up for linux.

[xid]

I'm another Sygate fan... at least with the win32 platform. If I knew all the ports that needed to be used for some simple services I would set up a dedicated OpenBSD 3.3-current box with pf as a firewall/router/maybeserver. To those that don't know: pf now supports load balancing rules that can round-robin all requests to even specific ports! AND ITS FREE!!! one catch--you have to learn OpenBSD first, at least a little, to use it :-P

[avdven]

My personal suggestion to you? Search the forums... that has been covered way too many times... I think you'll find all the information you are looking for, including in-depth analysis about each individual software firewall (both *nix and Windows) given by many respected, and knowledgable members.

AJ

[Falcon21]

I prefer Sygate Personal Firewall Pro for windows. It can detect port scan and dos.

[KorpDeath]

IPchains for Linux or just use and OpenBSD or FreeBSD box as a gateway, running IPchains. (more robust IP stack).

For windblows:
Outpost (free, but some features are disabled) www.agnitum.com
Sygate www.sygate.com

Ao has a neat feature called "SEARCH". If you did a search of the forums you'd see info like this about 5000 times. Same question, same channel, same day of the week.

<edit>
I say ipchains for robustness, not necessarily ease of use. The 2.2 linux kernel is IMO a little better at handling large amounts of traffic. If you're only going to see a little traffic then the 2.4 kernel is fine with iptables. BTW, When implemented properly Iptables can be just as robust as most Checkpoint FW installs.

[ii-monk]

On the year 2001 i was using Norton Internet Security 2001, it was really cool, blocking ads, closing all ports and waiting for your permission to open an exact port. I had few problems with net gaming, as it was asking all time to open ports... Now i'm using tiny too. But on my father's PC i have installed Sygate.

[AciDriveHB]

You know just as I've been reading this for the past few days, just a thought... Does Apple/Macintosh have any firewall type of software? Or really any need for it?

[Collapse]

Originally posted here by avdven
My personal suggestion to you? Search the forums... that has been covered way too many times... I think you'll find all the information you are looking for, including in-depth analysis about each individual software firewall (both *nix and Windows) given by many respected, and knowledgable members.

AJ

With respect, surely the situation of personal firewalls changes quite regularly, with opinions of each individual piece of software changing too? I apologise if i'm wrong, I haven't been around AO for a while!!

[avdven]

With respect, surely the situation of personal firewalls changes quite regularly, with opinions of each individual piece of software changing too?

I do agree that opinions about software may change frequently, but the technology used in personal firewalls does not change drastically over time. For instance, a search of the forums will bring up many similar threads with the most recent software (ZoneAlarm 3.x, Tiny 3.x, NIS 200x, etc.). Some users may change their firewall recommendations over time, but I would not base an important tool such as a firewall based purely upon someone's recommendation anynway. Once you know what other people are using, you should investigate each program and choose the one which is right for you (based on its security functions, usability, extra features, memory/CPU usage, etc.). Therefore, reading that someone prefers, for instance, Agnitum Outpost over Norton Internet Security, will not do anything for you because you may find NIS much more user-friendly, even if it doesn't have the same customization abilities as Outpost.

AJ