Firewall question.

[insignific4nt.]

Hi, can anyone recommend a free firewall that is very light on resources? I'm using XP and I don't like the one that comes with it but I don't want a really fancy one that is going to take up a lot of my resources.

Thanks.

~c4nt

[Stugein]

ZoneAlarm - Free and not terribly bulky.

[Atticus|1]

tiny personal firewall

Try Tiny...it`s a good firewall and easy on the resources. I would personally stay away from Zone alarm. It sucks resources and is like removing a virus when you uninstall it.

Mike
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Edit - mjk put together a nice list of firewall and AV`s you may be interested in.(thanks for that list BTW mjk).

mjk`s list

[MrLinus]

The last free firewall, that I'm aware of and not mentioned thus far, is Sygate's Personal Firewall. I've been testing it on my work machine (after spending a fair amount of time with Tiny and ZA) and I perfer Sygate. The advantage is the details on the logs and general works (shows each process and it's network connections).

Keep in mind that whatever Host based firewall you choose will eat up some resources.

[Computernerd22]

I'm using XP and I don't like the one that comes with it but I don't want a really fancy one that is going to take up a lot of my resources.

You should use the one that Windows XP comes with. *ICF* Internet Connection Firewall. It gives you the options to set rules for your firewall making it totally configureable for your needs. No need for 3rd party software. I myself currently run ICF as my firewall with its set of rules. By default you can check the log out here C:\WINDOWS\pfirewall.log. I dont recommend downloading BlackIce as my personal firewall.

[insignific4nt.]

Thanks for the replies.

Hey Computernerd22 , or anyone, is there a snap-in for ICF? Like secpol.msc, services.msc, etc etc... The reason I ask is because I don't want to have to switch accounts to configure it. I typically use those snap-ins to access things that require higher privileges in the terminal via RunAs if they don't have an icon I can right-click on to obtain the RunAs option.

I don't even have any ports open, but I feel like a rubber with a hole in the top without something running to that effect. Perhaps I'm acting on a fallacy, but I'm no guru. And doesn't ICF listen on a few ports? And why do certain firewalls listen on certain ports and others do not?

Lot's of questions....

~c4nt