Firewalls for Vista

rx7Savanna SG

as of topic, I need some good and free firewalls for Vista..any recommendations? Very Happy

BrUtUs SG

windows firewall… free..

rx7Savanna SG

I thought that was not recommendated? Laughing

ceecookie SG

PC Tools Firewall Plus.Handy and good one Razz

however,i lost the ability to update since i accidentally deleted the update file when AVG false positive-ed it as a virus

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Vista own firewall is good enough, if you know how to tweak it. By default, it doesn't block outgoing connections, as I've found out in one computer magazine.

Use a third-party firewall like ZoneAlarm (worst to recommend... but so far works well with Vista).

rx7Savanna SG

oh then teach me how to tweak it! Laughing since u said it's good enough..

And does ZA use up alot of system resource?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Personally, I don't use Vista. If MS don't fix this by SP1, I will not even use it. In the meantime, check out this webbie:

http://dozleng.com/internetsecurity/?p=133

I'm not too sure about the resources usage of ZoneAlarm in Vista...

kawasaki2 SG

I've took a look at Vista's firewall on a friend's computer, and it can be configured to block outbound connections, although this is not enabled by default.

It seems to have improved from the one in Windows XP, but still not enough.
After all, third-party firewalls may seem too complex to configure to a typical user.

I switched to Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall as Sygate is already obsolete. It gave me lots of problems until I got fed up with it and dumped all third-party firewalls and used the built-in firewall in XP, only as a last resort.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

3rd party firewalls prompt you about every outgoing connections, unless Windows own firewall. You have to teach the firewall what to accept, what not to accept and tell it to remember in order not to prompt you again.

It is indeed complex for the average user.