Firewall - Which one to use

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Sherman
  • Start date Start date
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David Sherman

Since it appears that Vista doesn't have a good outbound protection
firewall, I wanted to install the free version of Zone Alarm. So I
downloaded v6.1.744.001 which I hope is the latest version.

Since ZoneAlarm 6.1.744.001 doesn't run on Vista, are there any free
firewalls that I can use?

thanks
 
I don't have an answer for you. But while we're on the topic, what's the
theory behind blocking outbound traffic? To keep some rogue malware from
sneaking packets out through an unusual port or something?
 
It tells you what is trying to access the internet including legitimate
programs you might not suspect of trying to connect to the internet.

Joe
 
Since it appears that Vista doesn't have a good outbound protection
firewall, I wanted to install the free version of Zone Alarm. So I
downloaded v6.1.744.001 which I hope is the latest version.

Since ZoneAlarm 6.1.744.001 doesn't run on Vista, are there any free
firewalls that I can use?

thanks
Click to expand...

Isn't the concept of blocking outbound traffic a bit wrong? Surely the
ONLY way to protect your PC and internal network, is to prevent whatever
you are concerned about, getting on there in the 1st place.

This is how I view my PC security, and I have never had any virus or
spyware attacks in over 12 years.

I use my routers NAT, combined with the build in XP firewall, which
performs very well, uses very little in the way of resources and
introduces no network latency, compared to all other 3rd party firewall
products..
 
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Normally a firewall checks incoming
traffic to ensure it originated from an internal request. Surely you
wouldn't check outbound traffic to see if is originated from an internal or
external request. But it sounds like it's just a tool to alert you when
certain outgoing ports are being used. Sounds a little gimmicky to me. But
hey, what do I know?



Since it appears that Vista doesn't have a good outbound protection
firewall, I wanted to install the free version of Zone Alarm. So I
downloaded v6.1.744.001 which I hope is the latest version.

Since ZoneAlarm 6.1.744.001 doesn't run on Vista, are there any free
firewalls that I can use?

thanks
Click to expand...

Isn't the concept of blocking outbound traffic a bit wrong? Surely the
ONLY way to protect your PC and internal network, is to prevent whatever
you are concerned about, getting on there in the 1st place.

This is how I view my PC security, and I have never had any virus or
spyware attacks in over 12 years.

I use my routers NAT, combined with the build in XP firewall, which
performs very well, uses very little in the way of resources and
introduces no network latency, compared to all other 3rd party firewall
products..
 
I got hit with a serious virus attack a coouple weeks ago. The only
reason that I know that I had been hacked is thst free Zone Alarm told
me that a program wanted access to the internet. It was a program that
I didn't know about.
 
Hello!

Puppy Breath said:
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Normally a firewall checks incoming traffic to ensure it originated from an internal request.
Surely you wouldn't check outbound traffic to see if is originated from an internal or external request. But it sounds like it's
just a tool to alert you when certain outgoing ports are being used. Sounds a little gimmicky to me. But hey, what do I know?
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/softwa...demand_Microsoft/0,2000061733,39252954,00.htm

The firewall in Windows Vista will, by default, have half its protection turned off because that is what enterprise customers have
requested, according to the software giant.

When Windows Vista is released early next year its firewall will be set to only block incoming traffic even though it will be
capable of blocking outgoing traffic. According to a statement from Microsoft, the firewall's protection will be curbed in order to
make life easier for the company's enterprise customers.
Click to expand...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/4/26/3750


Regards, Roman
 
Makes sense. Blocking outgoing ports could drive ya batty. Except for that
one example from the original poster where some virus got past his malware
defenses, there doesn't seem to be much point to it. But after-the-infection
virus protection leaves much to be desired. That stuff shouldn't be getting
on the system in the first place.



roman modic said:
Hello!

Puppy Breath said:
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Normally a firewall checks incoming
traffic to ensure it originated from an internal request. Surely you
wouldn't check outbound traffic to see if is originated from an internal
or external request. But it sounds like it's just a tool to alert you
when certain outgoing ports are being used. Sounds a little gimmicky to
me. But hey, what do I know?
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/softwa...demand_Microsoft/0,2000061733,39252954,00.htm

The firewall in Windows Vista will, by default, have half its protection
turned off because that is what enterprise customers have requested,
according to the software giant.

When Windows Vista is released early next year its firewall will be set to
only block incoming traffic even though it will be capable of blocking
outgoing traffic. According to a statement from Microsoft, the firewall's
protection will be curbed in order to make life easier for the company's
enterprise customers.
Click to expand...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/4/26/3750


Regards, Roman
Click to expand...
 
I was just playing with Advanced Security Configuration Console and its not
that difficult, with a little reading and understanding of UI, it shouldn't
be that hard to grasp. Its automatically installed by default also in build
5365, so thats one hurdle over. :)
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta

Puppy Breath said:
Makes sense. Blocking outgoing ports could drive ya batty. Except for that
one example from the original poster where some virus got past his malware
defenses, there doesn't seem to be much point to it. But
after-the-infection virus protection leaves much to be desired. That stuff
shouldn't be getting on the system in the first place.



roman modic said:
Hello!

Puppy Breath said:
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Normally a firewall checks incoming
traffic to ensure it originated from an internal request. Surely you
wouldn't check outbound traffic to see if is originated from an internal
or external request. But it sounds like it's just a tool to alert you
when certain outgoing ports are being used. Sounds a little gimmicky to
me. But hey, what do I know?
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/softwa...demand_Microsoft/0,2000061733,39252954,00.htm

The firewall in Windows Vista will, by default, have half its protection
turned off because that is what enterprise customers have requested,
according to the software giant.

When Windows Vista is released early next year its firewall will be set
to only block incoming traffic even though it will be capable of blocking
outgoing traffic. According to a statement from Microsoft, the firewall's
protection will be curbed in order to make life easier for the company's
enterprise customers.
Click to expand...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/4/26/3750


Regards, Roman
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, I see. Good find. So getting back to the original post for this
thread, you could set the default for Outgoing ports to Block. Then just
create exceptions for what you think is OK. Exceptions can be based on
program, protocol, address, port, group memberhsip, computer etc. You can
import and export policies. The whole 9 yards.


Andre Da Costa said:
I was just playing with Advanced Security Configuration Console and its not
that difficult, with a little reading and understanding of UI, it shouldn't
be that hard to grasp. Its automatically installed by default also in build
5365, so thats one hurdle over. :)
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta

Puppy Breath said:
Makes sense. Blocking outgoing ports could drive ya batty. Except for
that one example from the original poster where some virus got past his
malware defenses, there doesn't seem to be much point to it. But
after-the-infection virus protection leaves much to be desired. That
stuff shouldn't be getting on the system in the first place.



roman modic said:
Hello!

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Normally a firewall checks
incoming traffic to ensure it originated from an internal request.
Surely you wouldn't check outbound traffic to see if is originated from
an internal or external request. But it sounds like it's just a tool to
alert you when certain outgoing ports are being used. Sounds a little
gimmicky to me. But hey, what do I know?

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/softwa...demand_Microsoft/0,2000061733,39252954,00.htm
The firewall in Windows Vista will, by default, have half its protection
turned off because that is what enterprise customers have requested,
according to the software giant.

When Windows Vista is released early next year its firewall will be set
to only block incoming traffic even though it will be capable of
blocking outgoing traffic. According to a statement from Microsoft, the
firewall's protection will be curbed in order to make life easier for
the company's enterprise customers.
Click to expand...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2006/4/26/3750


Regards, Roman
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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