I've changed firewalls.

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Corliss
  • Start date Start date
J

John Corliss

Well, I finally did it. I got sick and tired of the way that ZoneAlarm
2.6 took forever to start and the way it sucked up system resources.
I've been looking for a replacement for quite some time and have
finally settled on Kerio:

http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html

There is a nice FAQ at:

http://www.blarp.com/faq/faqmanager.cgi?toc=kerio

The FAQ even provides a hack that gets rid of the Kerio splash screen:

http://www.blarp.com/faq/faqmanager.cgi?file=kerio_other&toc=kerio#q10

(click on where it says "here" at the end of the line rather than the
"here" before the word "direct".) If you apply the hack, make sure
that all AV is off as well as Kerio itself. In fact, I disabled Kerio
from automatically starting and rebooted. Then I turned off AVG (my
antivirus of choice) and was able to install the hack. It worked like
a charm.

What a difference!! The computer reboots much faster because Kerio
starts real fast and the system has about 7% more resources. Maybe
newer versions of ZoneAlarm take fewer resources and start faster, but
I'm going to stick with Kerio anyway.
 
Well, I finally did it. I got sick and tired of the way that ZoneAlarm
2.6 took forever to start and the way it sucked up system resources.
I've been looking for a replacement for quite some time and have
finally settled on Kerio:

http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html

There is a nice FAQ at:

http://www.blarp.com/faq/faqmanager.cgi?toc=kerio

The FAQ even provides a hack that gets rid of the Kerio splash screen:

http://www.blarp.com/faq/faqmanager.cgi?file=kerio_other&toc=kerio#q10

(click on where it says "here" at the end of the line rather than the
"here" before the word "direct".) If you apply the hack, make sure
that all AV is off as well as Kerio itself. In fact, I disabled Kerio
from automatically starting and rebooted. Then I turned off AVG (my
antivirus of choice) and was able to install the hack. It worked like
a charm.

What a difference!! The computer reboots much faster because Kerio
starts real fast and the system has about 7% more resources. Maybe
newer versions of ZoneAlarm take fewer resources and start faster, but
I'm going to stick with Kerio anyway.
Click to expand...

Welcome among Kerio users!
I followed your link to get rid of the splash screen but don't you think it
is risky to run an .exe with all AV off?

BTW now we wait for you among Avast users :)
 
John said:
Well, I finally did it. I got sick and tired of the way that ZoneAlarm
2.6 took forever to start and the way it sucked up system resources.
I've been looking for a replacement for quite some time and have
finally settled on Kerio:

http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html

There is a nice FAQ at:

http://www.blarp.com/faq/faqmanager.cgi?toc=kerio

The FAQ even provides a hack that gets rid of the Kerio splash screen:

http://www.blarp.com/faq/faqmanager.cgi?file=kerio_other&toc=kerio#q10

(click on where it says "here" at the end of the line rather than the
"here" before the word "direct".) If you apply the hack, make sure
that all AV is off as well as Kerio itself. In fact, I disabled Kerio
from automatically starting and rebooted. Then I turned off AVG (my
antivirus of choice) and was able to install the hack. It worked like
a charm.

What a difference!! The computer reboots much faster because Kerio
starts real fast and the system has about 7% more resources. Maybe
newer versions of ZoneAlarm take fewer resources and start faster, but
I'm going to stick with Kerio anyway.
Click to expand...

Way to go. I dumped ZoneAlarm ages ago. My now ancient IBM ThinkPad 770
that still limps along and my AMD tower. Not ready to try their beta
release yet.
 
John said:
Well, I finally did it. I got sick and tired of the way that ZoneAlarm
2.6 took forever to start and the way it sucked up system resources.
I've been looking for a replacement for quite some time and have
finally settled on Kerio:

There is a nice FAQ at:

The FAQ even provides a hack that gets rid of the Kerio splash screen:
Click to expand...
http://www.blarp.com/faq/faqmanager.cgi?file=kerio_other&toc=kerio#q10
Click to expand...

Good choice, John, and while those are the usual resources, it's cool
that you included them in your announcement, to round things out.
Anyone who might want to look at Kerio *hasta* review that blarp FAQ, if
or no other reason than its treatment of basic rules.
What a difference!! The computer reboots much faster because Kerio
starts real fast and the system has about 7% more resources. Maybe
newer versions of ZoneAlarm take fewer resources and start faster, but
I'm going to stick with Kerio anyway.
Click to expand...

And you have far more control than you did with ZA. Win-win situation.
Enjoy!
 
Well, I finally did it. I got sick and tired of the way that ZoneAlarm
2.6 took forever to start and the way it sucked up system resources.
I've been looking for a replacement for quite some time and have
finally settled on Kerio:
Click to expand...

How are you getting on with it? I found other firewalls too fiddly to
set up, asking all sorts of protocol stuff that was more than I wanted to
know about! :-) I like ZoneAlarm's install and forget (pretty much)
approach and I can't say I've noticed a problem resource wise but if
there's something better I'm always ready to install it.
 
Way to go. I dumped ZoneAlarm ages ago. My now ancient IBM ThinkPad 770
that still limps along and my AMD tower. Not ready to try their beta
release yet.
Click to expand...


There's odd, this here machine's a 770 ( 266MHz ) and I tried both
Outpost and Kerio, and found that with each click of a URL the mouse
cursor stopped dead for about 3-5 seconds.
Re-installed ZA 2.6.357 and all's well again.

Searched in vain on the relevant forums for a solution.

Regards,
 
Malù said:
Welcome among Kerio users!
I followed your link to get rid of the splash screen but don't you think it
is risky to run an .exe with all AV off?
Click to expand...

Normally yes, but in this case the F.A.Q. for Kerio has a link at the
Kerio site. I scanned the downloaded patch and it was clean according
to AVG. I'll admit, I took a chance alright, but it seems to have
worked out okay.
BTW now we wait for you among Avast users :)
Click to expand...

Well, as I've said it'll be when AVG stops making updates for the free
version. "If it ain't broken, don't fix it." 80)>
 
Blinky said:
Good choice, John, and while those are the usual resources, it's cool
that you included them in your announcement, to round things out.
Anyone who might want to look at Kerio *hasta* review that blarp FAQ, if
or no other reason than its treatment of basic rules.


And you have far more control than you did with ZA. Win-win situation.
Enjoy!
Click to expand...

I am indeed enjoying the faster startups. And what I meant by the last
statement was "Maybe newer version of ZoneAlarm take fewer resources
and start faster *than ZA 2.6* , but I'm going to stick with Kerio
anyway."
 
All the reviews I read kept saying that Kerio was so much more complex
than ZA, but once I installed it and ran it I learned that this simply
wasn't so. Kerio is more configurable, and that's where the complexity
enters into the equation. Otherwise, it's simpler to set up than ZA.
Click to expand...

That's generally the case.

"I want a good news reader."

"Try X."

[installs it, runs it once]

"It doesn't *look* like my old reader!"

[goes back to tin cans and string]
Like with ZA, I created a link on the desktop to the log file and
assigned that link a shortcut keystroke combination. Now, whenever I
want to look at Kerio's log I simply press Ctrl-Alt-K.
Click to expand...
As for the resources, at least on my system installing Kerio made a
tremendous difference.
Click to expand...

And more control, too. :)
 
All the reviews I read kept saying that Kerio was so much more complex
than ZA, but once I installed it and ran it I learned that this simply
wasn't so. Kerio is more configurable, and that's where the complexity
enters into the equation. Otherwise, it's simpler to set up than ZA.
Like with ZA, I created a link on the desktop to the log file and
assigned that link a shortcut keystroke combination. Now, whenever I
want to look at Kerio's log I simply press Ctrl-Alt-K.
Click to expand...

Have you tried using Sponge's rule set ?

Google for sponge and kerio and ruleset - he uses a geocities site.

He has a firewall conf file which you can import, which blocks all
unnecessary stuff, spyware and all.

Try it - you will be surprised at what Kerio now blocks - and you
never knew was getting thru :-)
 
John said:
Well, I finally did it. I got sick and tired of the way that ZoneAlarm
2.6 took forever to start and the way it sucked up system resources.
Click to expand...

ZA(F) has moved on - current version is 3.7.2 (or thereabouts). You could
always try that to see if it still behaves in a way you find disagreeable.

Marc
 
Marc said:
ZA(F) has moved on - current version is 3.7.2 (or thereabouts). You could
always try that to see if it still behaves in a way you find disagreeable.
Click to expand...

Sorry Marc, but the last time I tried a version of ZA that was newer
than 2.6 (about a year ago) I was sorely disappointed by the way it
ran. Thus I'm inclined to not invest the energy in uninstalling Kerio
and installing a newer version of ZA. Besides, Kerio really *is* a
great firewall.
 
Sorry Marc, but the last time I tried a version of ZA that was newer
than 2.6 (about a year ago) I was sorely disappointed by the way it
ran. Thus I'm inclined to not invest the energy in uninstalling Kerio
and installing a newer version of ZA. Besides, Kerio really *is* a
great firewall.
Click to expand...

John - did you try sponge's rule sets ?

http://www.geocities.com/yosponge/updates.html

Very nice

I would use kerio, but it has a fairly well documented but rare bsod
with XP. Sponge himself, a bit of an authority on Kerio and
firewalls, cannot work this problem out.
 
Have you tried using Sponge's rule set ?

Google for sponge and kerio and ruleset - he uses a geocities site.

He has a firewall conf file which you can import, which blocks all
unnecessary stuff, spyware and all.

Try it - you will be surprised at what Kerio now blocks - and you
never knew was getting thru :-)
Click to expand...

I find it blocks too much. Lots of harmless webpages blocked.



Aaron
 
Alastair said:
Have you tried using Sponge's rule set ?
Google for sponge and kerio and ruleset - he uses a geocities site.
He has a firewall conf file which you can import, which blocks all
unnecessary stuff, spyware and all.
Try it - you will be surprised at what Kerio now blocks - and you
never knew was getting thru :-)
Click to expand...

Alastair,
I found a starting point for his stuff here:

http://www.geocities.com/yosponge/

Drill down a couple of links and you find:

http://www.geocities.com/yosponge/firewall.html

It appears that Sponge now has three different rulesets, each with a
different level of protection. I'll take a look at them. Sponge has a
very interesting site. Definitely worth reading for the security
conscious.
 
Terry said:
Quite. ZA is 'the AOL of firewalls' because it allows no user
configurability. Kerio is much better, partly because it allows the
user the option of configurability should the user so desire.
And partly, of course, because it is not as resource hungry.
Click to expand...

Not only that, but it has a built in log viewer (which ZA 2.6 didn't
seem to have):

Double click on the Kerio tray icon/Logs/Firewall Log...

The log even seems to do a "WHOIS" on the remote IP address that got
blocked.
 
Things happen that way; must be something in the water. ;)

I installed ZA 2.1 or something early on and later changed to Sygate; Sygate
wouldn't let anyone through so changed to Tiny which is the older brother of
Kerio. I have Kerio 2.15 now. Check out yosponge (no, not spongebob!)
website at http://www.geocities.com/yosponge/firewall.html

Welcome to the club.
 
But why would I need more "configurability" if ZA stops the stuff that
shouldn't get through but allows stuff that should? What benefit does
the extra configuration bring? I'm being serious by the way, I'd really
like to know! :-)
Click to expand...

Who decides the definition of 'shouldn't' and 'should'? You or your
software?

There are many resources available for researching this sort of thing.

comp.security.firewalls is a good place to start.
 
Who decides the definition of 'shouldn't' and 'should'? You or your
software?
Click to expand...

Both I guess. I tell ZA what should or shouldn't be allowed software
wise, it hopefully blocks the rest regarding ports accessible from the
outside.
There are many resources available for researching this sort of thing.
Click to expand...
comp.security.firewalls is a good place to start.
Click to expand...

I'm not that bothered about it really as ZA seems to what it is supposed
to. Was just curious.
 
Sweet said:
Things happen that way; must be something in the water. ;)

I installed ZA 2.1 or something early on and later changed to Sygate; Sygate
wouldn't let anyone through so changed to Tiny which is the older brother of
Kerio. I have Kerio 2.15 now. Check out yosponge (no, not spongebob!)
website at http://www.geocities.com/yosponge/firewall.html

Welcome to the club.
Click to expand...

Nice to be here. And yep, that's the same page I came up with after
websearching. 80)>

By the way, I emailed Kerio about not being able to clear the Firewall
Log file:
________________________________________
I just installed and am using Kerio Personal Firewall. Very nice,
certainly beats ZoneAlarm hands down.

I would like to comment about the Firewall log ("filter.log") which
seems to grow and grow. There is no obvious way to clear it and when I
move the log file to another folder, it doesn't get automatically
replaced by the program. The help file's mention that "The size of
this file is limited only by the available space on the disk" is
somewhat alarming.

You really should consider including a button on the log file viewer
that would clear selected entries. But then again, one can't select
for cutting and pasting from the log via the "Log Window" so that
capability would be nice to have as well.
_________________________________________

They've already gotten back to me. My suggestion is getting forwarded
to the development team.
 
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