Author Topic: good freeware firewalls?  (Read 31295 times)

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ramblinrose

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good freeware firewalls?
« on: August 29, 2006, 11:23:31 PM »
Hello, I hope this is all right to post. I need help finding good firewalls that will work well with avast. I like using avast. Right now I have windows firewall. I already tried sygate but I uninstalled it because I keep getting that popped up message even though I checkmarked *do not show a message again*. It was kernel system being blocked from ntoskrnl.exe Sorry I don't remember exact words. Sygate was version 5.6 does anyone know where I can find previous version?

I need a good firewall something easy to understand for me. I used to have a newest Zone Alarm but had problems with yahoo 8.0

Thanks for any help! I appreciated it...Regards, Rose

ramblinrose

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2006, 11:26:30 PM »
I am sorry...I should have checked other posts first....I will look into that. Thank you...Rose

timcan

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2006, 12:04:06 AM »
Hi Rose, have you tried Comodo?I've used it for a long time now. I would suggest downloading the lastest beta version.You will need to register at the forum to get the link to the DL. http://forums.comodo.com/  This is a stable and soon to be released version. Much lower memory usage also than other versions.Hope this helps.  tim

ramblinrose

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2006, 12:51:18 AM »
Thank you timcan...I never tried comodo. I would like to wait till no longer in beta but I will register there. Hopefully, windows firewall will do its job meanwhile....I like using Zone Alarm but ever since I upgraded yahoo 8.0 from 7.0 it caused problems. Took me awhile to find out it was ZA. I was disappointed. hugs, Rose

mauserme

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2006, 01:02:24 AM »
Hi Rose,

Bob started a thread about AShampoo Firewall here

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=23060.0

I've been trying it out for a few days and its pretty nice.  Similar in its ease of use to Zone Alarm but lighter weight. 

Whatever you do, get a third party firewall as the Windows Firewall only blocks unwanted incoming connection attempts.  It does nothing if, for example, a trojan is trying to send data outbound.

Offline Lisandro

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2006, 01:04:24 AM »
Thank you timcan...I never tried comodo. I would like to wait till no longer in beta but I will register there.
Nest week is scheduled the fully update...
You can use, and learn how to use the stable version before...
But, my experience with the beta is that is quite stable and good.
The best things in life are free.

ramblinrose

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2006, 02:26:41 AM »
I saved a download of ashampoo firewall. I hope ashampoo would be it for me. I need something real easy like sygate and ZA. Those 2 gave me problems. Hoping ashampoo won't. I could always uninstall and try comodo firewall. I hope ashampoo won't be hard to uninstall?? Thanks so much...Rose

mauserme

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2006, 04:05:59 AM »
AShampoo has an Easy mode and an Expert Mode.  Just configure it for the Easy Mode during installation if you don't want to specify ports, etc.

Between this and Comodo hopefully you'll find the solution.

ramblinrose

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2006, 04:09:01 AM »
Thank you so much...I will give ashampoo a try! I will let you know how it went for me....hugs, Rose

gwheaton

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2006, 04:57:39 AM »
I am using Comodo Beta Firewall on one of my computers and Ashampoo Firewall on the other one.  I like them BOTH.  I think Ashampoo is an easier firewall, and would be better for some that want it real simple.   Comodo has lots of extras settings you can use to really lock down your computer.  I have not checked in a lot of the Ashampoo menus to see how locked down you can get.  (Just installed Ashampoo yesterday).

As for Comodo Beta Firewall, the NON-Beta version will be out on 8/31/2006. 

Again, I like them both.  I know Comodo can really lock down the computer and not sure yet about Ashampoo.  But any firewall is better than non.

mauserme

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2006, 05:01:14 AM »
From my admittedly limited experience with Comodo I would say its more secure than AShampoo but, as you say, not as easy.

ramblinrose

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #11 on: August 30, 2006, 06:08:45 AM »
Well, I installed ashampoo firewall...it didn't go smooth as I hoped. After rebooting, windows hung and I had to use power button to shut it down. I was not happy.

I used easy mode and I made sure my programs have full access. I looked at tasks window manager.  I didn't see it in there. Do you know what processes for ashampoo? Thanks...Rose

mauserme

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #12 on: August 30, 2006, 06:24:37 AM »
The process is firewall.exe

The first computer I installed this on is a single user machine and everything is great. 

I just finished installing it on a second, multi-user (but otherwise almost identically configured) computer and had a problem similar to yours.  It appeared to have hung but in reality took a very long time to boot.

Is yours a single or multiple account computer?

Spiritsongs

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2006, 07:52:22 AM »
 :)  Hi Rose :

      This question belongs in the "General" forum; perhaps
      someone on the Sygate Support forums know where
      ver 5.5 is !? Try :  http://forums.sygate.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=dc827ceaabf4c40862820439ac6e8ebd&forumid=8 .

      I remember quite a while ago getting that "kernel
      system/ntoskrnl.exe" Sygate "alert"; was concerned
      and think I asked the Aumha.net Experts & got an "OK".
      Do not think I have suffered any "side effects" from
     "accepting" it !?

Offline polonus

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Re: good freeware firewalls?
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2006, 08:17:09 AM »
Hi readers of this thread,

I have heard that the firewall landscape has been changing lately, some old free firewalls are either not longer supported or bought out by the big companies, some stopped supporting older or now considered obsolete operational systems, so people with 98 SE Unofficial SP and ME are orphaned.
There are nice solutions for those who know who to implement it (an old PC as a bastion machine with a  Swiss ModWall with IPTables etc), but then you must know how to install this, and the reason that people don't do it, is the same why people are not strepping away from Windows in general (cold-water fear).
How is the situation now?

polonus
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Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!