Any GOOD Firewalls Out There?

[Rl'Halsinor]

I have Sunbelt's Kerio Firewall version 4.3.246. It was an install after I had to jettison their previous version that caused tons of BSOD's. This one casues BSODs as well but not at nearly the number. Still, BSODs are not acceptable for any reason and Sunbelt has had more than enough time to figure it out. They have a newer version but I have read it has issues as well. It is a a shame, too, because otherwise it is easy on the system and not hard to configure.

I don't want Norton or McAfee because they are system hogs and they aren't highly rated for good reason. I have had Zone Alarm Pro but that, too, is a system hog and it can cause havoc with internet surfing and especially when you want to download something. It truly slows down your PC.

I know about the freebies like Comodo and Jetico, but they take considerable tweaking and a considerable amount of technical knowledge just to configure.

So, any decent firewalls out there? I don't care if it is free or costs $; I just want something reliable that doesn't randomly crash my system.

By the way, I do have a router, NOD32 anti-virus (superb), and WebRoot's Spysweeper (it's shields have protected me very well), plus CCLeaner and Ad-Aware.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

What's a BSOD?

 

[kingpaul]

I haven't had any issues with Norton's, and I've had that for 3 years now.

 

[Mercule]

If you are using WinXP, I'd go for ZoneAlarm. It won't work on Vista, yet, but the XP version has consistantly gotten higher marks than either McAfee or Norton. Plus, it's free.

http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en

 

[IronWolf]

You could look at Comodo:

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

I haven't used it, but I have heard good things about it.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

I use ZoneAlarm as well... no problems after "setting" it (the first few hours with it are annoying).


What's a BSOD?

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

A BSOD means "Blue Screen of Death" due to what is known as a STOP Error. Windows does this to protect your computer from serious damage occuring. It happens when there are Driver conflicts, usually hardware but sometimes software as in my case, and your system crashes to a Blue Screen where Windows gives you a code that directs you to the culprit.

Windows will also store this information in what is called a Minidump. If you can have someone read it you can know exactly where the issue lies. In my situation it is my Firewall.

Windows will dump you physical memory and then restart with a warning.

If you want to see the myriad of different just Google Windows STOP Errors. You'll see...

 

[Agamon]

By the way, I do have a router, NOD32 anti-virus (superb), and WebRoot's Spysweeper (it's shields have protected me very well), plus CCLeaner and Ad-Aware.

With that, you really don't need a software firewall. The router works as a better firewall for incoming data sets than any software firewall can. And you rarely have need of firewalling your outgoing data, especially if the incoming data is well protected.

 

[Thanee]

By the way, I do have a router ...

That's the best firewall available for home networks.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Xyanthon]

Software firewalls by nature tend to be system hogs. They have quite a job to do analyzing traffic coming and going from the system. I'm not quite sure how you have your home network/internet connection set up and what kind of funding you have but a router is probably the most reasonable measure of protection for most home computing. You could also add a DMZ between the router and your pc by having a cheaper PC that does nothing but run firewall software. That may be an option if you are that concerned about intrusion.

However, as the others have said, a good router goes a long way.