Good Firewall without system hog and avast! conflicts.

[Aeolis]

Hi folks,

I would like to ask your suggestion or opinion about a good firewall or internet suite (anti-virus and anti-spyware too) that could work together with my favorite anti-spyware Avast! 4.7. Please forget about Sunbelt Kerio personal firewall it gives me blue screen of death in my system. I am current using ZoneAlarm security Suite with ZoneAlarm antivirus off and Avast! 4.7 PRO completely on. But ZoneAlarm is system hogging my machine, it’s an excellent firewall, but it’s getting annoying slowly.
Thank you for your attention.

See you later,

Aeolis

[MJA]

I use Outpost Firewall Pro,and Kaspersky Internet Security 6 on another PC(best AV I ever used). one thing. outpost is the best if you are good with configurations.not for noobs thats for sure.

[Mr. Dweezel]

Please forget about Sunbelt Kerio personal firewall it gives me blue screen of death in my system.

That just happened to me a few days ago. I thought it was bad memory, but now I'll
have to check further to see if Kerio caused it.

[MJA]

edit

[lordsmurf]

kerio is gone.damn Norton bought it,so no more updates

That's not correct. Sunbelt bought Kerio. http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio.cfm

I use this, it works quite well.
Do yourself a favor and spend $20 or so to get the paid version, more features.

I was tired of dealing with Norton's bloated crap firewall, Kerio has been a great replacement.

And it does have a free version, no harm in at least trying it out.

If you're looking for a new anti-virus too, look into AVG. Again, I was tired of Norton's bloatware, AVG has proven itself to be a better performer in quality and protection.

[Mr. Dweezel]

kerio is gone.

The one that Aeolis mentioned in his post. I have that one too.

I just found this info...
http://www.computergripes.com/keriofirewall.html

I was using ZoneAlarm but I'll try Outpost.

My only problem with ZoneAlarm were some stability issues
but it has saved me a lot of problems, so I can live with
the little issues!

[Mr. Dweezel]

If you're looking for a new anti-virus too, look into AVG. Again, I was tired of Norton's bloatware, AVG has proven itself to be a better performer in quality and protection.

AVG is my new friend! I started using that a while ago and I haven't had
any issues with it. It has found problems on my PC and eliminated them.

I'm using the free version.

[MJA]

Kaspersky.never ganna go back to AVG again

[isogonic]

ive used all of these at one time, all free: you can still find these version like kerio and sygate. no problems with avg or otherwise,i perfer individual apps rather than the all in one suites

kerio v 2.1.5
outpost lite
jetico personal fw
sygate v 5.6

[lordsmurf]

Outpost did not impress me. It consisently crashed on a Windows 98 system

[daamon]

This article on Download.com might be of interest:

www.download.com/Security-Starter-Kit/1200-2023_4-5159800.html?tag=nl.e415

[lacywest]

I'm glad to see this info posted ... Norton has been pissing me off lately.

[NiteLite]

Hi folks,

I would like to ask your suggestion or opinion about a good firewall or internet suite (anti-virus and anti-spyware too) that could work together with my favorite anti-spyware Avast! 4.7. Please forget about Sunbelt Kerio personal firewall it gives me blue screen of death in my system. I am current using ZoneAlarm security Suite with ZoneAlarm antivirus off and Avast! 4.7 PRO completely on. But ZoneAlarm is system hogging my machine, it’s an excellent firewall, but it’s getting annoying slowly.
Thank you for your attention.

See you later,

Aeolis

If you only need the firewall from zonealarm get zonealarm version 2.6.88.
It's still probably the most stable release. It allows complete stealth and doesnt use resources as it is only a firewall. It works perfect with Avast and Spybot and Spywareblaster.
Might can find it at oldversions.com
I hate when programs are crammed with features not needed, hence the older version.
And after what AVG pulled on their customers going from version 6 to 7, I wouldnt use it if I had to do without.
Good luck,
NL

[MJA]

http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2006_02.php

February 2006 Online results

[Aeolis]

Hi folks,

Thank you everybody. I think I'll give a try to Outpost Firewall PRO. It's well graded and it has a new release (Release date: Apri 20, 2006 Version: 3.51 (748.462)) as stated in Agnitum site. Well, what do you know about this firewall? Is it a resources hog (start up, normal operation hog, etc)? Is it full compatible with Avast! 4.7? Please continue helping me. Thank you again.

See you later,

Aeolis

[lacywest]

Outpost did not impress me. It consisently crashed on a Windows 98 system

Hi Mr. Smurf ... if anybody knows ... you are the one to ask ...

What do you use ?? ... you are not happy with Norton products ... that I know.

Also mention ... how well it keeps up with updates ... the programs you use.

And does it include a feature that works with MS Outlook.

[ROF]

I'm glad to see this info posted ... Norton has been pissing me off lately.

Norton is a virus.

[ZiaxDK]

Look N Stop. http://www.looknstop.com/

Really nice tiny firewall. Doesn't use a lot of resources, but not for noobs

Ken

[lordsmurf]

I run Windows XP Pro on my systems.

For firewall, I use Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall (paid version, runs like $20). I've customized some of the settings to allow for my LAN and a few special sites. This program not only checks in/out communication, but it will check software-to-software communication, and you can block or allow as you please. I think Baldrick is the one who suggested Kerio to me.

For anti-virus, I'm using AVG Free Edition. I have it set to update weekly. AVG Free works with Outlook quite nicely. I have it set to only check incoming files with attachments. The free version adds text to your message, so I don't use it on outgoing mail. I swear AVG releases a new update every 2-3 days, and they are small too, like 100k, updating takes less than 30-60 seconds most of the time on a broadband connection.

Both of these have proven themselves every bit as powerful as Norton (maybe even moreso), but with a very minimal system presence. I do not lose massive amounts of CPU or RAM, they do not lock up the computer, and they do not crash.

If you're interested in Outlook filters, and you have a spam issue, look into SpamBayes, another free tool. I've been using this for a month or two now, it's extremely accurate and has cut down tremendously on my spam issue. You take a few minutes to teach it was is good and what is bad, by feeding it old messages. I keep message in my deleted folder for 1-2 months, just in case, and when I taught SpamBayes, I just dumped 2 months worth of message into it's learning system, manually separating spam and good mail into the two learning folders.

I also run Spybot's Teatimer in the system tray, helps in preventing a lot of those crappy little browsers exploits from trying to take over your browser (yeah, I still use IE sometimes).

And if you are using IE, consider adding AdsFilter to your system, works a lot like AdBlock for Mozilla/Firefox. I have the older free version, they now charge like $15 or so for it.

Another skin I saw recently was Foxie, which turns your IE into something similar to Firefox. I installed it, did not like it, but figured I'd pass it along anyway. It adds another Firewall when you use IE, and then it does tabs and has FlashBlock and AdBlock like Mozilla.

One more is HOSTS Secure, which adds crap sites into your HOSTS file (this redirects the DNS to 127.0.0.1, home) and you cannot visit that site. Self-imposed bans on sites that are out there to steal your information, exploit your computer, etc. I like it, keeps me out of trouble. This gets frequent updates.

If you suck at spelling or have a tendency to make typos, ieSpell is an IE plug-in spell-checker. I don't use it all that often, just when I'm doing something important.

Do you have problems with your icons on your desktop movign around without your permission? Do you change resolutions a lot? Restore Desktop is a nice little tool, it saves your desktop icon location. Just right click on the desktop to restore or save a new layout. It's uses bare minimum system resources, almost nothing.

Do you like to know what the temperature is? Need a weather radar? Get Weatherbug. I have it set to start-up with my system, I check out the daily forecast, radar and current temperature, then I right-click and close it. I close it because it takes up some resources when running, and can be a bit of a pest with alerts. It's nice to have.

Pop-Up Stopper is another good multi-browser tool, sits in the sytem tray, turn it off and on simply by double-clicking on it. I use it when the built-in browser ones fail, as Pop-Up Stopper has a max setting that nothing can get through (not that I have seen at least).

[bmiller]

I'm on dialup and have been using zone alarm security suite for the last 6 months with no problems.The first version of 6 that came out was apperently buggy. The latest has been working quite well.

[Jester700]

Some good info here. My current stable:
The stuff that runs:
Avast! free AV
Spybot S&D's "immunize" feature
MVPS HOSTS file
javacool's Spyware Blaster
Windows XP SP2 firewall
Microsoft AntiSpyware beta

The stuff that's available to run:
Kerio Firewall
javacool's Spyware Guard
A bunch of cleaning progs, including AdAware, AVWin personal, FProt, A squared, Ewido...

[lacywest]

I'm glad to see this info posted ... Norton has been pissing me off lately.

Well ... I guess I either got on the wrong foot when installing Norton SystemWorks 2004 on Win2000 or it doesn't like being installed on that system.

Any ways ... BestBuy is selling Win XP Home for $60 bucks this week and I bought 2 boxes ... so ... that computer I'm building for the clients I work with ... their getting WINXP on their computer ... and Norton SystemWorks 2004 ... installed this time with no clitches.

Now I need to figure out how to provide them a method to play some of the older games ... like Hexen ... Doom.

One of the clients gave me a Gateway computer to fix up for him [he saw a person throwing it away in a dumpster] ... runs at 1100 mhz and he self-discharged from the program [we think he gave a dirty UA test] and didn't say nothing to me before he left.

So I will get it up and running and install those old DOS games and bring it to the house ... hmm ... what system should I use ... WIN98SE or Windows ME ... geez ... been awhile since I messed around with those systems.

Smurf ... good infor ... some people I build computers for ... can't afford Norton systems.

[Aeolis]

Hi folks,

Good news for me and for you my enormous thank you! Thank very much for your attention. First I have to say any Firewall installation needs a very good and clean system. I say that because I’ve blamed Sunbelt Kerio for giving Blue Screens and that was not the problem. I had ZoneAlarm and after a bad uninstallation of it I tried to install Sunbelt Kerio so blue screens in my head for my dumbness. Sunbelt Kerio is a very good product my apologies goes for all of you that love it. I cleaned my system of ZoneAlarm traces and tried it again very good Firewall didn’t pass all test on ShieldsUP (almost 100%, but not 100%. Look for all ports scan hints about ZoneAlarm issues at the end of the page and see by yourselves) and passed all tests in PC Flank.
But the big surprise is Agnitum Outpost firewall. I’m using: Outpost Firewall Pro 3.51.748.6419 (462). This is a very good Firewall excellent compatibility with Avast! 4.7 and other popular softwares. My system is not slowed down in any way (neither memory, processor nor start-up) everything is fine. It’s an updated Firewall what’s very important. Its built-in spyware tool is good, but can be disabled if you have your own trusted spyware tool, as well, you can use it with your own trusted anti-virus software without problem. Its built-in software behavior presets are very good and configurable as well. It recognizes a good variety of common softwares. It passed all test on ShieldsUP (100% even the issue I’ve mentioned before it could handle not perfectly, but it could handle without lose doors stealth status) and PC Flank.
Thank you MJA. Your suggestion was great!

See you later,

Aeolis

[Mr. Dweezel]

deleted

[Baldrick]

Look N Stop. http://www.looknstop.com/

Really nice tiny firewall. Doesn't use a lot of resources, but not for noobs

Ken

I'm testing it now, works fine so far. Thanks for the tip!

I gave up kerio 2.1.5 as it wont work well with my shared wireless network, I have to keep reset the network to be able to get it to work.

[SingSing]

What about the virus scan and firewall come with WinXP SP2 ?

[guns1inger]

The updates to the firewall in XP2 make it better than nothing, but it's not a substitute for one that gives you a true view of what's going in and out and gives you control over the traffic.

There is no native virus scan in XP at all. MS are planning one as part of vista and it will flow on to XP eventually. Defender is their antispyware package, and it's not bad for what it does - better than the previous beta MS Anti-spyware. But it's not an anti-virus program.