Is Windows firewall adequate for security purposes or should I add another one?

personally I'd say use a third party one like Comodo (http://www.comodo.com/) or Zonealarm (http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp) and disable the windows one

No harm in doubling up. I wouldn't rely on the Windows one alone. I'm a cheapskate and have Zone Alarm installed. It's now more or less bug free on Vista (but long established on XP) and is free for the basic version.

I had Norton installed on my laptop originally. A 90 day trial offer I think, but when I then tried to uninstall it I had loads of problems and ended up having to reintstall Windows.

i've had no trouble with windows one, most iffy one i had was zone alarms. That saw forever knocking out my net and using alot of CPU and memory to run it.

ZoneAlarm is awful. There's previously been whole threads as to why.. search for them.

Windows Firewall is NOT sufficient. Don't even bother doubling up.. get a 3rd part firewall and then turn Windows' own off.

The best free personal firewall without a shadow of a doubt is Comodo Personal Firewall v3.

Get it.

I can recommend Sunbelt Personal Firewall - very good and you can bag it for the equivalent of about a fiver 'cos it's on offer.

See http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Home-Home-Office/Sunbelt-Personal-Firewall/

The windows firewall only monitors incoming traffic and not outgoing, so you don't know if you have a spyware application sending information out. The best solution is a router with a built in firewall.

ZoneAlarm is awful.


Glad it isn't just me who has that opinion of ZoneAlarm.

The windows firewall only monitors incoming traffic and not outgoing, so you don't know if you have a spyware application sending information out. The best solution is a router with a built in firewall.


A routers firewall will not stop information leaving your computer, to monitor outgoing requests you will need a software firewall installed.
A software firewall guards against this type of risk which usually works in the background undetected and prevents the information from being released.

Norton Internet Security Covers the In/Out Firewall Issue, as does a dedicated hardware firewall.

Plus you can buy Norton for like £15 on eBay. Although I know some people don't like Norton. I never have a problem with it. Used it for 4 years. If that helps?

Personally I don't use a firewall, I find they take up too much of your PCs resources to be worth using, If your careful what sites you visit, what you download and what programs you run you should never need a firewall...

as for incoming stuff, a router that drops ICMP pings is more than enough for a home user.

Glad it isn't just me who has that opinion of ZoneAlarm.

Zone Alarm has a nasty habit of deciding to block a device's DHCP and DNS server which I've seen shed loads of times. There's better available for free e.g Comodo.

Norton Internet Security Covers the In/Out Firewall Issue, as does a dedicated hardware firewall.

Plus you can buy Norton for like £15 on eBay. Although I know some people don't like Norton. I never have a problem with it. Used it for 4 years. If that helps?

Speaking as someone that deals with a very large network with end users that run various firewalls.... Norton is a massive problem and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It offers nothing over free offerings that are much better behaved and don't exhibit the bizarre behavior all versions of Norton appear to.

The best free personal firewall without a shadow of a doubt is Comodo Personal Firewall v3.

Get it.

Having been a fan of ZoneAlarm for many a year, I did switch to Comodo last year and am quite happy with Comodo.
Only ,If you do download Comodo you might want to switch its "Defense +" feature off, it's a nightmare! It asks you for your permission for every little standard task, and even if you think the pop ups will get less after it "learns" what actions to allow, it doesn't!:suspect:
If you like the Defence + feature though, consider the excellent and free WinPatrol, it does much the same thing as Defence +, only much, much better.
http://www.winpatrol.com/

Only If you do download Comodo you might want to switch it's "Defense +" feature off, it's a nightmare! It ask you for your permission for every little standard task and even if you think the pop ups will get less after it "learns" what actions to allow, it doesn't!:suspect:



I have got to agree about the defence feature on COMODO - it never does actually learn!

I had few niggles with version3 which lead me to try trial Online Amor (http://www.tallemu.com/free-firewall-protection-software.html) for use on my laptop. It's easy to use, runs in simple or advanced mode and performance as been flawless.

*CUT*

Bloody duplicates(!)

Norton Internet Security Covers the In/Out Firewall Issue, as does a dedicated hardware firewall.

Plus you can buy Norton for like £15 on eBay. Although I know some people don't like Norton. I never have a problem with it. Used it for 4 years. If that helps?

MurderDeathKill!

It's recommendations like that that allow Norton to stay in business even when they produce some of the worst software known to man.

I don't doubt that you've never *noticed* a problem with it, but please stop recommending it to others.

I'm not saying that the free alternatives are better, I'm saying that using nothing at all would be better!

Zone Alarm has a nasty habit of deciding to block a device's DHCP and DNS server which I've seen shed loads of times.

And that's just the start! When I used to answer tech-support calls at an ISP I lost count of the number of calls that went like this (shortened):

"Hi, I can't connect"
"Ok, your connection looks fine, do you have a firewall installed?"
"Yes, but it's not that"
"Well, it could be.. what firewall is it?"
"ZoneAlarm. It's definitely not the problem"
"It's ZoneAlarm - it almost definitely is the problem. Please uninstall it and then try again"
"No, it's not ZoneAlarm - you suck. Bye"

[me] checks the ticket a couple of hours later.

"Customer called again. Was advised to uninstall ZoneAlarm as advised by [me]"

"Customer agreed to uninstall ZoneAlarm"
"Customer shows valid connection"

A routers firewall will not stop information leaving your computer, to monitor outgoing requests you will need a software firewall installed.

Things only work when you configure them. Any decent router with a functioning firewall will have the option to specify what is allowed out and what isn't, it just happens that they all have the default rule of "Allow All Outbound" that no-one ever changes.

I can recommend Sunbelt Personal Firewall - very good and you can bag it for the equivalent of about a fiver 'cos it's on offer.

See link-cut

Sunbelt Personal Firewall is built on Kerio Personal Firewall. As a pure packet-filter firewall, NOTHING could beat Kerio, it was the nuts (to use a poker term). However, then Sunbelt bought it and in bringing it up to date they have lost the essence of what Kerio firewall used to be and they have over-developed the hell out of it turning it into something that is ok, but nowhere near as good as some others.

We have been using Kerio's last freeware version of the firewall for some time, but it just doesn't cut it anymore, not to mention the fact that it was created before WinXP and doesn't interact with it properly all the time.

When looking around for a replacement, Comodo was an option but, being version 2, it just wasn't good enough, however since they released version 3 and we've given them a little time to put a few revisions into the code, it's fast becoming the only firewall I would want to use and we are going to be rolling out to all company laptops.

Having been a fan of ZoneAlarm for many a year, I did switch to Comodo last year and am quite happy with Comodo.
Only If you do download Comodo you might want to switch it's "Defense +" feature off, it's a nightmare! It ask you for your permission for every little standard task and even if you think the pop ups will get less after it "learns" what actions to allow, it doesn't!:suspect:


Agreed, but don't forget that Comodo only released version 3 very recently, and version 2 was good, but not up to scratch. They are very early in the maintenance process for their first very fantastic firewall release - Defense+ will work, but in the meantime, I'd just turn off Defense+ anyway as Home users have no idea what to make of it and Pro users don't need it.

Also, take note, unlike all the other free software out there, Comodo PF v3 is *free for business use*!

A routers firewall will not stop information leaving your computer, to monitor outgoing requests you will need a software firewall installed.
A software firewall guards against this type of risk which usually works in the background undetected and prevents the information from being released.

if your computer is sending information out across the net, that you don't want it to, you already have problems. A firewall isn't the best solution to that.

if your computer is sending information out across the net, that you don't want it to, you already have problems. A firewall isn't the best solution to that.

Agreed, outbound firewall rules are for Corporate LANs, not home users, whether software or hardware.

Only If you do download Comodo you might want to switch it's "Defense +" feature off, it's a nightmare! It ask you for your permission for every little standard task and even if you think the pop ups will get less after it "learns" what actions to allow, it doesn't!:suspect:]

I have got to agree about the defence feature on COMODO - it never does actually learn!

I take it you've both notified the developers of these bugs?

Glad it isn't just me who has that opinion of ZoneAlarm.

too right - knackered my bb connection - now use comodo with Windows switched off.

if your computer is sending information out across the net, that you don't want it to, you already have problems. A firewall isn't the best solution to that.

Not my computer personally Ken1, but I know the point you are making.;)

I take it you've both notified the developers of these bugs?

I have notified COMODO about the numerous bugs I found in version3.

Things only work when you configure them. Any decent router with a functioning firewall will have the option to specify what is allowed out and what isn't, it just happens that they all have the default rule of "Allow All Outbound" that no-one ever changes.



Agreed!! Most people plug in and never give a thought to setting up their router correctly.

Sunbelt Personal Firewall is built on Kerio Personal Firewall. As a pure packet-filter firewall, NOTHING could beat Kerio, it was the nuts (to use a poker term).


Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5 was in my opinion one of the best firewalls I have used. Before that I used Tiny Personal Firewall.
Kerio 2.1.5 can still be downloaded from here. (http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page7.html)

As my free 15 month subscription to McAffee ran out I uninstalled it and went back to AVG and for the first time have tried comodo on recommendation from SF.

Went to PC Flank to check my security and all seems quite well apart from this...

Danger!
While visiting web sites your browser reveals private information about you and your computer. It sends information about previous sites you have visited. It may also save special cookies on your hard drive that have the purpose of directing advertising or finding out your habits while web surfing.

Recommendation:
We advise you to get personal firewall software. If you already have a firewall program adjust it to block the distribution of such information.

Any ideas how I can change this through comodo, searched for help but to no avail:huh: