Author Topic: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...  (Read 33406 times)

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Offline Para-Noid

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #75 on: July 17, 2011, 08:26:00 PM »
It was confirmed by a moderator on the forums for Online Armor that slow bootup is a known problem when Chrome is set as the default browser. It doesn't happen if IE or FF are the defaults. OA also causes a noticeable slowdown in browsing speed in Chrome, but not In IE. They don't show any concern about fixing the problem which has existed for over two years. I have uninstalled OA and gone back to just the XP firewall. Everything is snappier now again. I have heard that the latest version of the PCTools Firewall is greatly improved so I may try that out again.

http://support.emsisoft.com/topic/5050-observed-issues/
I found the emisoft link very interesting. Since FF is my default browser and I have never played WOW I have not encountered these issues. I learned something today. I am very disappointed that emisoft shows little concern. I would think if there was an issue they would fix it. Every time avast has an issue they will go out of their way to fix it, sooner not later. As for Private Firewall, I have not personally used it so I know very little about it.  :)
Dell Inspiron, Win10x64--HP Envy Win10x64--Both systems Avast Free v17.9.2322, Comodo Firewall v8.2 w/D+, MalwareBytes v3.0, OpenDNS, Super Anti-Spyware, Spyware Blaster, MCShield, Unchecky, Vivaldi Browser and, various browser security tools.

"Look before you leap!" Use online scanners before you click on any link.

Dch48

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #76 on: July 17, 2011, 11:25:14 PM »
I have installed the newest version of PC Tools Firewall Plus and I like it a lot. It seems perfectly compatible with Avast and is much more user friendly than it used to be. It also causes no bootup or slowdown issues at all. The only question I have is that it said that the Avast Service seemed to act as a local proxy and asked if it was one. I didn't know how to respond so I said it was. Maybe it's because of the web shield since I got the prompt when I launched the Chrome browser. can anyone give some information on this?

Mr.Agent

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #77 on: July 17, 2011, 11:28:45 PM »
Dch its might be that. But avast! is of course need local for update or webrep.... Network or Web Shield maybe too ?

Offline Para-Noid

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #78 on: July 17, 2011, 11:51:36 PM »
Maybe it's because of the web shield since I got the prompt when I launched the Chrome browser. can anyone give some information on this?
I can't resist...Use Firefox.
Yeah I know a lot of people love Chrome. Evidently you are one of them.
I have FF as my default browser but, even when I use Chrome OA Free does not affect it. And for CPU usage it runs right around 35%.  :)
Dell Inspiron, Win10x64--HP Envy Win10x64--Both systems Avast Free v17.9.2322, Comodo Firewall v8.2 w/D+, MalwareBytes v3.0, OpenDNS, Super Anti-Spyware, Spyware Blaster, MCShield, Unchecky, Vivaldi Browser and, various browser security tools.

"Look before you leap!" Use online scanners before you click on any link.

Dch48

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #79 on: July 18, 2011, 12:40:16 AM »
Maybe it's because of the web shield since I got the prompt when I launched the Chrome browser. can anyone give some information on this?
I can't resist...Use Firefox.
Yeah I know a lot of people love Chrome. Evidently you are one of them.
I have FF as my default browser but, even when I use Chrome OA Free does not affect it. And for CPU usage it runs right around 35%.  :)
It would do the exact same thing in FF. It's pretty much confirmed that it's because of the Web Shield of Avast which I hope also works in FF. You never know though.  ;D

gdiloren

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #80 on: July 18, 2011, 06:02:30 AM »
Yeah, with all those FF updates, you have to watch it closely, modules are not following.

Offline Asyn

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #81 on: July 18, 2011, 08:44:58 AM »
The only question I have is that it said that the Avast Service seemed to act as a local proxy and asked if it was one.

Yes, avast! acts as local proxy. That's how it works. ;)
W8.1 [x64] - Avast Free AV 23.3.8047.BC [UI.757] - Firefox ESR 102.9 [NS/uBO/PB] - Thunderbird 102.9.1
Avast-Tools: Secure Browser 109.0 - Cleanup 23.1 - SecureLine 5.18 - DriverUpdater 23.1 - CCleaner 6.01
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Dch48

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #82 on: July 18, 2011, 07:16:17 PM »
More on PC Tools firewall


An issue that I have reported on their forums is that if I have the slider for Enhanced Security Permissions set to High, on first access of nearly every program, it hangs up for at least 30 seconds and then an alert pops up saying that the app was temporarily allowed because it locked the screen preventing alerts from being displayed. It then asks if the program should be trusted. This does not happen if the slider is set to Medium or Low. It's very annoying if you're trying to install something new or even uninstall something old and it locks up like that a few times during the process. It has already happened to me. Of course, once the app is trusted, the issue never comes up again. I may have to keep the slider on Medium since it says that the Low setting provides only connection monitoring and none of the other security features. Actually, the Low setting may be all that I need. It's an improvement over the older version though. That one would not only lock the screen, it would lock up the entire system necessitating a hard reboot from the Power Button. If I disabled Avast during first access of apps, the lockups did not occur. The two programs could not be running at the same time for first access of programs. The issue in the new version is an improvement but still a hassle and disabling Avast has no effect.

I have excluded the PcTools Folder in the fileshield and every one of the executables in the Behavior Shield of Avast to no avail. There is no way to exclude things in PC Tools.

Dch48

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Re: Best Firewall (from all Angles?) with Avast AV Free...
« Reply #83 on: July 18, 2011, 07:27:27 PM »
The only Firewall I have used that gave me no issues in functioning was Comodo. with the D+ deactivated, it provides very good 2 way monitoring. My only problems with it were that it installs the entire CIS package even if you only use the Firewall Installer. Even the AV gets installed but is not activated. The other problem is that the tray icon usually does not show up in XP and you have to open the GUI from the desktop icon to get the tray one to show.

All these issues are why I say that for me, the Windows Firewall, with it's limitations, may be the way to go.