Is the Vista firewall any good?

CurlyWhirly · 18 Jun 2009 at 08:26

I know that the Vista firewall is now bi-directional but I'm just wondering if I would be better off with a third party firewall instead?

When I was on XP I used to use a third party firewall (I've forgotten what it was called now

) but this wasn't compatible with Vista so I had to ditch it.

What I find strange is that I never get alerts that a certain program wishes to access the internet so I'm wondering how effective the Vista firewall really is :confused:

Any recommendations for the 64-bit version of Vista Home Premium please?

celliott · 18 Jun 2009 at 08:56

Does your PC sit behind a router or are you using a Modem?

If you are behind a router, configure the firewall there and dont bother with a firewall on your PC.

CurlyWhirly · 18 Jun 2009 at 09:03

celliott said:
Does your PC sit behind a router or are you using a Modem?

If you are behind a router, configure the firewall there and dont bother with a firewall on your PC.

I'm using a router and a hardware firewall on a Netgear DG834GT but I don't know how to configure it so I'll have to look into it, thanks

eXor · 18 Jun 2009 at 09:26

The Vista firewall is great. It's light on resources and tightly integrated with the OS. No need to worry about regression induced BSODs from third parties tinkering with their code.

Outbound is 'allow all' by default. I've set it to 'deny all' and created 'exception' rules for programs that need access.

The lack of outbound alerts is unfortunate. Don't know what Microsoft was thinking on that one.

CurlyWhirly · 22 Jun 2009 at 11:50

eXor said:
The Vista firewall is great. It's light on resources and tightly integrated with the OS. No need to worry about regression induced BSODs from third parties tinkering with their code.

Crikey, it's actually good then :eek:

eXor said:
Outbound is 'allow all' by default. I've set it to 'deny all' and created 'exception' rules for programs that need access.

The lack of outbound alerts is unfortunate. Don't know what Microsoft was thinking on that one.

That explains why I never get alerts

I'll do what you did and 'deny all' and create 'exception' rules, thanks

monkeyspank · 22 Jun 2009 at 12:49

It's good. Download and use vista firewall control if you want to add a GUI and a alerts etc. Great add on

Dark_Angel · 22 Jun 2009 at 13:00

Hmmm interesting add on... will look at that later.

monkeyspank · 22 Jun 2009 at 14:53

It acts like sygate in so far as it will notify you when a new app is trying to get internet access and you can click allow or deny, and choose either once or always. Makes life a lot easier.

CurlyWhirly · 27 Jun 2009 at 23:23

monkeyspank said:
It acts like sygate in so far as it will notify you when a new app is trying to get internet access and you can click allow or deny, and choose either once or always. Makes life a lot easier.

Thanks for the link to the Vista Firewall Control.
It works great.

You just reminded me of the (software) firewall that I used to use on XP but wasn't compatible with Vista - Sygate.

razer1978 · 28 Jun 2009 at 00:36

i've been using zonealarm and works very well has both inbound and outbound alerts but is also very easy to use

wilsky · 28 Jun 2009 at 01:11

razer1978 said:
i've been using zonealarm and works very well has both inbound and outbound alerts but is also very easy to use

I hated ZA... I used to use Outpost on XP. Not really bothered these days, Windows firewall is good to stop incoming attacks that get past the NAT in the router.

Outbound, mmm, don't have any dodgy software. Run as a standard user with UAC on full with AV software. Tend not to download "free" stuff off the internet... Tend not visit dodgy websites

No point in 3rd party firewalls these days... (I can hear the thundering footsteps of the EU.... Win7 E + NF) No Firewall.. ha ha ha

wilsky · 28 Jun 2009 at 01:14

CurlyWhirly said:
Thanks for the link to the Vista Firewall Control.
It works great.

You just reminded me of the (software) firewall that I used to use on XP but wasn't compatible with Vista - Sygate.

Did it work OK? I didn't like the site to be honest.

Besides just type in firewall [Enter] on the orb search panel. Brings you to the advanced control panel for the firewall...

CurlyWhirly · 28 Jun 2009 at 09:18

wilsky said:
Did it work OK?

Yes fine thanks.

More firewall rules are being added as I use it more.

wilsky said:
I didn't like the site to be honest.

It's a bit confusing but I found it okay.

eXor · 28 Jun 2009 at 10:10

wilsky said:
Run as a standard user with UAC on full

A rare breed.

Craig321 · 29 Jun 2009 at 13:42

What's the Windows Firewall (with Vista Firewall Control) like compared to Comodo on resources?

I'm not too bothered about features, as long as I am asked whether to permit/deny a program if it's trying to get on the internet.

CurlyWhirly · 29 Jun 2009 at 22:11

Craig321 said:
What's the Windows Firewall (with Vista Firewall Control) like compared to Comodo on resources?

I don't know about Comodo as I've never used it but it's light on resources both CPU usage and RAM.

Craig321 said:
I'm not too bothered about features, as long as I am asked whether to permit/deny a program if it's trying to get on the internet.

That's exactly what happens and it remembers your choices and also gives you the option of allowing permission just the one time.

Craig321 · 30 Jun 2009 at 13:57

CurlyWhirly said:
I don't know about Comodo as I've never used it but it's light on resources both CPU usage and RAM.

--pic

That's exactly what happens and it remembers your choices and also gives you the option of allowing permission just the one time.

That's pretty light. However, if the Windows Firewall service is turned on then one of the svchost.exe processes will surely take a little more RAM/processing power?

CurlyWhirly · 5 Jul 2009 at 00:32

Craig321 said:
That's pretty light. However, if the Windows Firewall service is turned on then one of the svchost.exe processes will surely take a little more RAM/processing power?

Yes your right but I can put up with it as I much prefer being able to easily control what applications 'phone home'

Bane · 5 Jul 2009 at 10:34

Surprised Microsoft haven't released something like this as a utility on Technet.