Best firewall?

[Blacksheep]

Firewalls...

ZoneAlarm is good, Tiny is good. But, I'm sold on Sygate; application based plus rules, with built in packet sniffer and best logs I've seen, Pro or free: http://www.sygate.com/swat/default.htm

Beta: http://www.sygate.com/swat/beta/default.htm

The Unofficial Sygate Firewall Website: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/susan.todd*/index.htm

Ho! Ho! Ho!

[Nulland Void]

Looks very impressive, Blacksheep.
So I went and got the beta
(shiver me timbers!)

Will let you know how it goes.

[Blacksheep]

Howdy Nulland Void:

"Looks very impressive, Blacksheep.
So I went and got the beta
(shiver me timbers!)

Will let you know how it goes."

Please do! I'm running free Sygate Personal Firewall 4.2.872 (did not uninstall ZA Pro) and don't have time for another beta right now.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Have you been good little boys and girls? :D

[DATA]

HI,

I Really dunno how u can say * is a best firewall.Fire walls r best when they r customised and bulid accordingly and explicitly for the network after having a perfect understanding of the network ur dealing with.

Merry X-mas all.
Data

[Blacksheep]

Hi Data,

I didn't say Sygate PF was the best firewall, that was a question. :) But it's very customizable with application and advanced rules. Near as I can figger the only thing not customizable is the SPF Intrusion Detection System (I.D.S.).

Nulland Void,

What do you think of SPF Pro beta???

SPF free is stopping stuff for me ZA never did. First thing I did was restrict ports for Eudora phoning home to adserver. Eudora phone home can be blocked with ZA Pro by blocking adserver IP.

Merry Christmas to all!

P.S. Eudora Light (reduced features, not ad sponsored) still tries to phone home stuff like your IP, "face time", etc., e.g. SPF Traffic Log:
*76* *2/26/200* 08:*5:42 Blocked TCP Outgoing adserver.eudora.com 208.*84.225.7 80 xxx.xxx.86.*5* ***4 C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Eudora\Eudora.exe * *2/26/200* 08:*5:45 *2/26/200* 08:*5:45 GUI%GUICONFIG#SRULE@APPCONFIG-BLOCK#C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\Eudora\Eudora.exe

[Nulland Void]

Hey Blacksheep,

It's very impressive.

I wouldn't go so far as saying that it's better than Tiny
insofar as giving "better" protection, but it does have some really nice bells and whistles.

I love the back***** feature and that spiffy sniffer.

I haven't had time to explore it all yet.
The Pro beta is a freakin' *0 day thing, so that kinda pissed me off.

But for the time being, I would vote for Sygate.

I think both Tiny and Sygate blow ZA away, and DATA is right.
It's "how" you use them for "what" you use them.

Will look into it further and keep posting.

[Blacksheep]

Survived Christmas, installed SPF Pro beta.

Hay Nulland Void:

"It's very impressive."

Agreed.

"I wouldn't go so far as saying that it's better than Tiny
insofar as giving "better" protection,"

Dunno yet. Investigating SPF Pro beta claim for terminate process protection from bad asses like BioNet http://www.nsclean.com/psc-bionet.html I queried ZA about the terminate process vulnerability and got a smoke screen answer.

"but it does have some really nice bells and whistles."

Agreed.

"I love the back***** feature and that spiffy sniffer."

Agreed. Strange no mention is made of these traceroute, whois, packet sniffer features.

"I haven't had time to explore it all yet."

Me neither.

"The Pro beta is a freakin' *0 day thing, so that kinda pissed me off."

Many software companies screw beta testers, many expert, by no pay, not even free license for many hours of work making their product better.

"But for the time being, I would vote for Sygate."

Agreed.

"I think both Tiny and Sygate blow ZA away,"

Agreed. But believe ZA is more user friendly out of the box for firewall newbies.

"and DATA is right. It's "how" you use them for "what" you use them."

Agreed. Hi DATA :)

"Will look into it further and keep posting."

Ditto.

[Dirk]

Well, for my two cents worth, I have ZA Pro and BlackIce.
These two together seem to do the job. However, I could be wrong, as I don't understand everything. Trying though.

[Unregistered]

I have to say, I love Tiny!!! It has searved me we through many years of attacks. I have just combined Zone Alarm it is sooooooooooooo cool!!!

[curious]

i am using za firewall and would like to install an alternate firewall for better protection, is it ok to have 2 firewalls such as tiny and za or tiny and sygate firewall installed and running at the same time? will they conflict or i should stick to one firewall running each time? some advice would be much appreciated!

[Blacksheep]

IMO it's not a good idea to run 2 firewalls at same time.

Tiny & ZA , SPF & ZA - both combinations conflicted in my system. In fact couldn't have both installed in my sys at same time.

Here's an excellent firewall that many consider the best:

http://www.looknstop.com/En/index2.htm

[curios]

BlackSheep - ty for responding and valuable info.

Can i use look n stop together with za then?
im seriously considering getting rid of za for another firewall like tiny, it gives me random blue screens and illegal messages since i had it.

[Yabut]

You can sucessfully run both ZA and Black ice in concert on win*8 and winME.. though I have no idea what OS you are using.

I have done this by installing ZA pro first (completely) and then shutting it down completely.. and then installing black ice. On the reboot both worked fine and I have done this more than once.( reformats)

Having two firewalls is kind of redundant..ZA Pro seems to be the favourite and I recommend it too. It must be good because hackers hate it like hell.

instead of another firewall you might try a program called JAMMER, it keeps ***** of registry changes and thereby catches trogens etc.

[Yabut]

Having blue screens doesn't necessarily mean ZA is the problem. A clean reformat and load of all programs before pl***ing into the net solves allot of mysterious kernal problems. .. and running WINDOCTOR and SCANDISK and DEFRAG can solve allot of glitches as well.

[curious]

im using win*5 will that work with blackice and za pro?

[Blacksheep]

Originally posted by curious
im using win*5 will that work with blackice and za pro?
You should upgrade Win*5 to sockets 2 & dun**:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/searchdl.asp?

[Unregistered]

Black Ice is not a true firewall its a IP catcher. The best firewall is always hardware for BB systems, not software. Software is for dialup, Bradband is always on and nothing is ever safe becuse its always on even when you puter is off.

[fE¨·.·¨Er]

============================================
Hi to everyone,

The best Firewall is the one that "YOU" have.
it's exactly like the best PC or the best TV or even the best car.

similar to "what you see is what you get" I can tell you about firewalls "what you customize is what you get"

The key of customizing "all network admin will tell you" is to channel all your PC applications that have acces to INTERNET to an extremely narrow tunnel, even to one single port.

rule *. ( outgoing access)
You have to ONLY allow MSIE or your prefered browser (HTTP client), + your favorite Download Manager, + Windows media player, + your FTP client, + Kazaa or similar etc.. to access one single port, of a local proxy (proxomitron or any similar) that listen on port (2**2*) {the port number is an example}
so you have to set them ALL to ONLY access *27.0.0.* at port 2**2*. (by the way only MSIE will fail to this strict rule, but not OPERA).

In other words, DO NOT allow them to access the INTERNET, on the contrary, channel all your internet PC applications to communicate ON A SINGLE PORT with a local PC proxy (proxomitron or similar)
http://proxomitron.org/
and then set very strict rules for this local proxy to communicate with the external INTERNET world.. this local proxy would be the interface between your PC and the outside INTERNET world.
Any application that will try to access the net without flowing thru your local proxy will be immediately rejected. (hopefully and if your firewall is good enough).

rule 2. ( incoming access)
when rule * is done, forbid any communication on all other ports except those that you allowed for your local proxy (proxomitron or similar) or your local servers (in case you have, like if you run your own emailer, or your own ftp servers)

rule *. (extra protection)
if you use a firewall that can set time scheduling, let him STOP all communication of your local proxy (proxomitron or similar) everytime you are away of your PC or in bed, say between midnight and 8:00 am.


However for those who still ask themselves the same question whether or not they need 2 or * firewalls, or if "A" is better than "B" look at this link.
Note that this link will lead you to a firewall manufacturer that pretends that he's the best "obvious".

http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/compare.html

I am not a firewall expert, I am only a simple user like all of you.
I had the chance to use, try, install and uninstall different firewalls (soft & hard) together with some experienced team in a strategic job.

thank you for reading all this long stuff.

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fE¨·.·¨Er

[Up N. Atum]

Good post, fE¨·.·¨Er!

[Blacksheep]

Kudos fE¨·.·¨Er.

Blacksheep likes SPF 5 Pro.

Cheers

[fE¨·.·¨Er]

Hi Blacksheep,

At one time, I thaught you don't want to visit this forum anymore.

it's very nice to see you posting.

take care ;)


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fE¨·.·¨Er