Firewall Advice

[Etaqua]

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?

 

[Etaqua]

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.

 

[Etaqua]

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