Firewall Advice

Etaqua · 5 Feb 2006 at 20:15

Hey guys,

I'm a home user, however pretty security conscious. I was wondering what the absolute best firewall for Windows is - free or not, it doesn't matter. I don't mind paying something fair for the absolute best. However, obviously since I'm a child, I won't be able to pay silly amounts like £50/month.

Any input about Kerio and Kaspersky firewall? I know Kaspersky is the best antivirus at the moment (I'm using NOD32 at the moment since it is a bit less resource hungry), just wondering if the same thing holds true for their firewall?

TriedandTested · 5 Feb 2006 at 20:17

I doubt there's an 'absolute best' firewall out there. They all have the good and bad points. Personally, i've been very happy with the Sygate one; have used it for years without any problems. But not 100% sure they're still developing it...but you may be able to download a recent build somewhere online.

Kerplunk · 5 Feb 2006 at 20:25

Sygate for me as well.

Recommended, A+

Etaqua · 5 Feb 2006 at 20:29

IIRC, Sygate is in its final version since all development has been halted/discontinued. That's one of the things turning me away from it.

uknorthboy · 6 Feb 2006 at 09:27

I used to use Sygate also, use zonealarm now because apparently they have stopped supporting sygate any longer

Seems a pity

l33t_p3t3 · 6 Feb 2006 at 12:03

I have been using Sygate for a few years & it still seems fine to me.
An alternative is Kerio, which felt similar to Sygate.

Enzo · 6 Feb 2006 at 12:36

I've used Kerio for a couple of weeks now and found it does the job, and its free!

Etaqua · 6 Feb 2006 at 15:57

Yeah, I was using Kerio as well. Awesome firewall.

Just out of curiosity, who would recommend a firewall in addition to a hardware firewall and the XP SP2 firewall?

If lots of you think it would be a good idea, and the performance deficit is worth it, I'll get one again...

By the way, my system spec is:

A64 X2 4200+ (@4600+)
1GB DDR400 (2.5-3-3-7@1T)
GeForce 6600GT @ 540/1100MHz
MSI K8N SLI-Platinum
200GB SATA Maxtor Hard Drive

ACPCUP · 6 Feb 2006 at 15:58

Using Kerio now. Superb Firewall

Sputnik II · 6 Feb 2006 at 16:15

Anyone tried using the Lavasoft Firewall? Whats it like ?

VeNT · 6 Feb 2006 at 17:21

hardware jobbie.

PuncH · 6 Feb 2006 at 20:12

Kerio is excellent. I switched from Sygate as it's now discontinued and I've been impressed with it so far. I got the full version for $14.99 which equates to about £9 which is pretty good for a fully featured firewall.

In between sygate and kerio I used the SP2 firewall but I wasn't impressed and by all accounts it doesn't monitor outgoing traffic. Only incoming.

Having said all this, Kerio is a backup more than anything else as I use a NAT router with it's own firewall to protect itself.

l33t_p3t3 · 7 Feb 2006 at 10:16

Etaqua said:
Just out of curiosity, who would recommend a firewall in addition to a hardware firewall and the XP SP2 firewall?

Always worth having a hardware & software firewall in my opinion.
But no point in having 2 software firewalls though.