CDRLabs.com

Any opinions on what the best software firewall program is out there? Zone Labs, Norton?? Or do they even really protect you very much?

Thanks!!

Zonealarm is free and offers plenty of protection. Norton isn't on the same level but good if you don't search too often.

Even better way though is to buy a router with a NAT firewall. Then use Norton for Antivirus and Zone Alarm for application control (tell what applications can access the internet, act like a server etc...), then something else for privacy.

And if you want finer-grain control over your firewall, check out Kerio Personal Firewall (free for home use).

cfitz

Whatever firewall that you use, I recommend that you go to this site and check out how well you are protected:

www.grc.com

There are also TONS of information there, if you are interests in securities.

PadG wrote:Whatever firewall that you use, I recommend that you go to this site and check out how well you are protected:

www.grc.com

There are also TONS of information there, if you are interests in securities.

yeah, you can DROWN in info there!
great site!

dodecahedron wrote:yeah, you can DROWN in info there!
great site!

That's a fact!!!

BTW, for those who hadn't visited the site before, "ShieldsUp!" is where you run the tests. Check all the ports, at the very least. "Stealth" is what you want, otherwise you will want to find a way to fix it!

Oh yeah, the original question! I am using Norton IS right now, and used to use ZoneAlarm Pro. Both are very good, but I like this version of Norton better. Easier to configure, at least IMHO.

In the end the truth is that does firewalls can be fooled very easy. If you create a dll and make it load with any browser that is allowed to transmit data through the firewall then the dll will too. The firewall may protect you from any outside attack but it can still transmit data from your computer to the world.

CignaXI wrote:In the end the truth is that does firewalls can be fooled very easy. If you create a dll and make it load with any browser that is allowed to transmit data through the firewall then the dll will too. The firewall may protect you from any outside attack but it can still transmit data from your computer to the world.

I'd suggest that you look carefully at this site! Steve has a test for that as well. You'll need to DL a small program, which will act as a trojan and test out your firewall from the inside.

A year ago, the only firewall that will prevent this was ZoneAlarm. Now, all the major ones are quite good at protections from either directions.

PadG, are you talking about LeakTest ?
http://grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm

For a software firewall, Zone Alarm is the best around. Of course, I love my Linksys WRT-54G.

If you aren't a "GFW" and don't have problems with trojans/spyware; I would recommend 8signs firewall. It is the closest thing to IPTABLES/IPFW on *nix that you can get for Win32. Very highly recommended if you run Win NT/2k/2k3 servers.

http://www.8signs.com/firewall

Matt wrote:If you aren't a "GFW" and don't have problems with trojans/spyware; I would recommend 8signs firewall. It is the closest thing to IPTABLES/IPFW on *nix that you can get for Win32. Very highly recommended if you run Win NT/2k/2k3 servers.

http://www.8signs.com/firewall

what's GFW ?

Not making any assertations to anyone specific:

http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/GWF.html

Matt wrote:Not making any assertations to anyone specific:

http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/GWF.html

LOL, just read that. Very funny that people are like that.