Firewalls

[Steroids]

Ok, i know there is a thread some where in here but i cant see to find it so.... What is the ebst FREE firewall to get or the top 3 or whatever....  I know i even made a post to the thread but i have been busy...  So i was just wondering what is the best and or top 3 firewalls to use??? Any help would be great...

[Tarq57]

The answer is somewhat subjective, and depends largely on the user/s.
Do you want absolute security, ease of use, low resource usage, excellent logging ability, zero conflictions with other programs, low (or zero) price etc? Does the user visit some sites or use applications which would be considered "risky" ? eg p2p, porn, untested downloads, clicking on "any old link that pops up" etc, or is it mainly used for emailing friends? Is it used for online banking, or purchases using a credit card? What is the level of expertise of the user? Ie, will they know how to respond to pop-ups asking for permission for an application to connect?
Don't want to make this sound more tricky than it needs to be, but these q's are worthwhile considering.
Some names that crop up include Comodo, Kerio, ZoneAlarm, Jetico.
I'm by no means a knowledgeable user, but finding Comodo very good, and haven't had any parasites on the computer recently. It scores very well in leaktests, which is something to go on, but doesn't necessarily reveal all vulnerabilities or potential problems.
It works well with Avast (and my other applications) on this computer - some users have reported issues, the claim is that these have been resolved with the latest comodo update (version 2.4, I believe. I'm waiting to see some reviews before updating.)
Final analysis: What do you require of your firewall?

[Bluesman]

What is the ebst FREE firewall to get

If you ask me, Comodo Firewall is the best! Stable, secure and it uses low resources! And it is working just fine with avast!

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

But we all have different taste, some people like Zone Alarm or some other of the ones that Tarq57 mention.

[DavidR]

Ok, i know there is a thread some where in here but i cant see to find it so.... What is the ebst FREE firewall to get or the top 3 or whatever....  I know i even made a post to the thread but i have been busy...  So i was just wondering what is the best and or top 3 firewalls to use??? Any help would be great...

Click the Profile button, on there there should be something like 'Show the last posts of this person.' this will show all your posts and you should be able to find it, http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=24575.msg202202#msg202202 like I did

See some firewall tests for comparison, some are freeware but many are paid for versions http://www.firewallleaktester.com/tests.php. Also see http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/firewalls.shtml

[pip22]

In my experience it's best to use a complete internet security suite (ie antivirus and firewall in a single package) as there's unlikely to be any incompatibilty issues that way. I realise Avast doesn,t offer a total solution (no firewall) (yet?) so I've decided to only use avast on my (infrequently used) laptop with ZA free firewall. This has thrown up some (manageable) incompatibility issues, so for my main computer I use the complete ZA Security Suite.

[Lisandro]

In my experience it's best to use a complete internet security suite (ie antivirus and firewall in a single package) as there's unlikely to be any incompatibilty issues that way.

There isn't a 'good' package that allows protection, low resources usage and is free.

This has thrown up some (manageable) incompatibility issues, so for my main computer I use the complete ZA Security Suite.

avast works with ZA Pro.
The ZA antivirus is far from being a good antivirus 

[Bluesman]

In my experience it's best to use a complete internet security suite

Yes, some people like suites, I don't! I prefer to choose to use different programs (Comodo Firewall Pro + avast! in this case)

Suites tend to be bloated, and use much resources in my humble opinion.

But I understand you people that want to use suites, as they, as you say, unlikely have any incompatibilty issues.

[DavidR]

In my experience it's best to use a complete internet security suite (ie antivirus and firewall in a single package) as there's unlikely to be any incompatibilty issues that way. I realise Avast doesn,t offer a total solution (no firewall) (yet?) so I've decided to only use avast on my (infrequently used) laptop with ZA free firewall. This has thrown up some (manageable) incompatibility issues, so for my main computer I use the complete ZA Security Suite.

I much prefer to choose my protection software rather than take what comes in a suite. This way you can choose a solution that best suits your needs not what they choose. You can also choose the best in each area of protection and independent applications are unlikely to suffer from a vulnerability in a suite IMHO.

The saying Jack of all trades, Master of none seems very apt to me, I don't think I have come across a good security Suite and there are many examples of Bad and bloated ones.