What free firewalls are the best to use along with the windows firewall ?

 

 

you only want to be running ONE (software) firewall... so if you're using Windows Firewall, do NOT use another one.

 

what you CAN do, if you wish, is "supplement" windows firewall by using a HARDWARE firewall --- such as a "NAT" firewall --- which is generally included in your ROUTER (if you have/use one).

 

if your question was to REPLACE the windows firewall with another, that's a separate matter.   two excellent (and free) candidates for consideration would be COMODO PRO firewall, or ONLINE ARMOR firewall.  be advised, however, that each of these takes some "getting used to", as they have to "learn" about which programs you want to allow to access the internet.  

[this can be an especially daunting task for a "newbie" trying to figure out Comodo v.3 + Defense/HIPS ]

 

 

as for an anti-virus program, there's no simple way to select a "BEST" one.

 

there are several products [both free and paid] available for download [or purchase]... and each (legitimate) product will have its avid proponents who believe [or would like to believe] it's "the best".

 

for an anti-virus, i suggest you consider either avast or avira's antivir (use only one, not both).  both are free, so you can try one, and if not happy, remove the one and install the other.  

[if you insist on paid products, they can be considered separately].   

your antivirus program should be updated DAILY --- be it automatically, or manually.

 

links for these [and other products] may be found in the list of free security software in the "sticky" at the top of this forum.

I switched from Comodo to Online Armor just recently and found it much more intuitive and user friendly. After a short period of 'training' it quietly goes about its business with very few alerts. After installation it does alert on what file is accessing what port, but this feature can be turned off.

Both products are rated as very good but I would not recommend Comodo because of its excessive (to me) alerts and its overly complicated features for the average home user to try to understand and apply. It seems more geared to professionals. This just my opinion after several months of using Comodo.

As an average user who has tried both free firewalls (OA and CFP 3), I would have to agree with Dale and ky331.

 

Comodo's FW took me a long time to tame, and is not user-friendly. I'm comfortable with it now, and get very few alerts these days, but getting to this point was an arduous process most will want to avoid.

 

The OA free firewall was indeed more user-friendly, but I ultimately returned to the Comodo FW because:

 

1) The OA free firewall has no ability to internally update whenever a newer version is released (and there have been about 7 versions released this year so far). This means users will have to keep checking to see when new versions are released, then uninstall the old/install the new. Settings are not maintained, nor can they be exported, so you will have to go through a re-training period with each new version.
  
2) The OA free firewall lacks keylogger detection and a few other features listed here:
http://www.tallemu.com/comparisons.html
As a consequence, the free OA has slipped in leak-testing at matousec:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php
Note that the paid version of OA is currently ranking #1, with Comodo not far behind.

 

Bottom line is that if you want a free 3rd party firewall, you are going to have to put up with some grief whichever you choose. Both are good products, but both have limitations.

 

If you want the best user-friendly FW currently available, I agree with Scot Finnie: get the paid version of OA for about $40. His excellent review of the firewalls mentioned above is here:
http://blog.scotsnewsletter.com/2008/03/24/the-best-firewall-software-of-2008-online-armor/

RadaRadaRada,

 

I believe the firewall you are talking about ad-aware (Lavasoft Personal Firewall Version 3) is for 64-bit operating systems.  So if your have a 32-bit system it would not work.  I also believe you hae to buy the Lavasoft firewall.  It may be best to try the free one first and if you do not like it then try the trial version of Lavasoft (if you have a 64-bit operating system).   

Beversoll,

 

the lavasoft firewall offers both 32 and 64 bit versions, for XP & Vista.

it costs just under $30 for a 1 year license... (with options for longer term arrangements)

http://lavasoft.com/products/lavasoft_personal_firewall.php?t=techspecs

Nice. Thanks everyone for all the advice and recommendations . I think i am going to look into the Online Armor firewall.

 

Much thanks for the replies. :smileyhappy:

 

Iwas also looking at the ad-aware personal firewall version 3.0 i think it was. Do you think this is a good buy ?

rada,

 

if you read through the Matousec link in Joe's thread above,

you'll note that the Lavasoft (Ad-Aware) personal firewall v3

placed EIGHTH (8th) in this particular series of tests, scoring 70% (good)

[compare to the suggested/"recommended" firewalls

                 1st place:  online armor (paid) at 98% (excellent)

                 2nd place:  comodo v3            at 95% (excellent)

                 5th place:  online armor (free)  at 89% (very good)]

 

Of course, these simple numbers are just the "bottom line" performance in this particular series of tests, and do not tell the whole story:  As noted, the top performers leave much to be desired, in terms of their "user friendliness" and/or ease of updating  --- and I have no idea how lavasoft's would compare on these aspects.

Thanks Ky331,

 

I read on PCWorld it was only compatible with the 64-bit OS, or so I thought. 

 

"Note: Lavasoft Personal Firewall 3.0 is designed for 64-bit systems running Windows Vista, XP, Server 2003, or 2000 SP3 and above. If you are running one of these OSes on a 32-bit system, the vendor recommends the the 32-bit version. If you are running Windows 98 or an older version of 2000, the vendor recommends Version 2.0 instead. Licenses for this software are sold in one-, two-, and three-year licenses. The price given here is for a one-year license. The download link takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the software."

 

Link 

 

 

I assume this means there are two different versions?

Beversoll,

 

clicking on your link, "the 32 bit version",

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,70502/description.html

indeed shows a separate 32-bit version of Lavasoft firewall 3.0

 

since i don't use it, i know nothing more than what these links tell us.

Once again much thanks to all for the replies and advice but i have one final question

 

Can you computer get viruses if you are playing games online . games like halo, call of duty 4, gears of war and such ?

 

 

Thanks for all the replies

Depending on many circumstances like where you go on the Net, how secure the game site is, and how good your protection is...there is always a risk of getting malware on your computer if you are online, the operative word here being online.