Free Firewall Software

[Wiggo]

So what are you using and a link to that particular test would be nice to. :?:

[Beefy]

http://grc.com/default.htm

[Wiggo]

Shields Up is a good test and ZA can pass that easily. :)

[Mr. C]

Those network bondage articles are well worth reading as they contain some excellent tips and how-to's.

The article on rebinding 9x is a must see for those using those OS's still:thumb:

[{PoSeIdOnAs}]

No offense taken.
And I intend no offense either, but Black Ice is a sad excuse for a firewall - and unless they changed it quite a bit, it's no firewall at all.

they mustve changed it since you used it because it is awesome :) I love the fact it can trace back to the origionating PC too :)

plus its REAL REAL REAL easy to report em :) which I do on occassion......

[Mr. C]

Honestly I have never used it.
According to technical reports written by folks much more knowledgable on the subject than I shall ever be, I would not ever load it on a system that has any value to me.

I had the priveledge of being in a chat room last winter when a fellow came in raving about his Black Ice Defender. After a while of this, one of the chat participants asked the fellow to check his programs folder for the file for Black Ice. After about a minute the guy came back mad as all get out - he couldn't find his folder because the dude had deleted it. :laugh:
That was funny stuff!
The guy threatened criminal actions and all kinds of stuff, but I think after he calmed down he learned his lesson.

I seriously doubt he did a reinstall though.

Nah, witnessing something like that happen to someone else was plenty for me.
Tracking/recording IP's doesn't make a firewall.
Monitoring incoming/outgoing packets in real time and blocking those packets that are disallowed or of questionable nature makes a firewall.

I truly hope they have improved it since that time though, for everyone's sake.

[Beefy]

they mustve changed it since you used it because it is awesome :) I love the fact it can trace back to the origionating PC too :)

plus its REAL REAL REAL easy to report em :) which I do on occassion......

But how secure is it? Do you know? Sure, it's got some nifty features, but does it do what it is supposed to? :)

[Wiggo]

Most comparisons of software firewalls have ZoneAlarm, Tiny or Smoothwall as their top performers and usually BlackIce is at the very bottom with a few others in between. :smokin:

[djake65]

you guys talk about firewalls, but do not mention if they block your ip address from the outside world. i was on a site yesterday and a block came up and stated my ip address had been turned over to #######. i need software to block this from happening again. any help would be appreciated. djake65:hammer:

[Mr. C]

I suspect you were merely victim to a pop-up ad.

To prevent your IP from going to a website you will have to connect through a proxy server.

Without a proxy, you cannot surf the web without revealing your IP address ---- otherwise how would they know where to send the webpage you requested??

I think you're gonn'a be just fine.
You might check out some of the threads on free adblockers though.

[Capricorn]

I used to use Zone Alarm, which caused me a few problems. However, since using Kerio I haven't had any trouble. I think they took over the Tiny Firewall. It is free for personal users and can be found at;-

http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_home.html

[shapester]

What's a good free firewall that doesn't have ads, or contain spywares? What's a good commercial Firewall?

thanx

Well.....not that I endorse this kind of thing, but on Kazaa...ahem...:devil: I'm sure you can find ANY firewall you want...not that I do it... ahem.... well you get my meaning...nudge nudge wink wink say no more

[cenkog]

Try "JAP" ... Best & free http proxy service...

http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html

you guys talk about firewalls, but do not mention if they block your ip address from the outside world. i was on a site yesterday and a block came up and stated my ip address had been turned over to #######. i need software to block this from happening again. any help would be appreciated. djake65:hammer:

[tons of fun]

SyGate.....

http://www.xbetas.com/images/topics/winxp.gif

[Oldbugger]

GRC offers a fairly simplistic testing of ports....I can get the same GRC result as you fellas running whatever firewall you do with one line of script in Linux "iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --syn -j DROP" which totally blocks all unsolicited contact with the machine..full stealth as it drops the packets altogether.....

Firewalling is not rocket science and in fact its the exceptions to the blocking that cause the complexity.....if you have simple needs then a simple Linux script like that above will probably be adequate (if you have Linux that is)....you can cover the other protocols (UDP and ICMP) (which GRC probes don't) just as simply in Linux. For testing I got to http://scan.sygate.com/ as it covers other protocol scans as well.