Sygate vs. Outpost firewall

  • Thread starter Thread starter R. L.
  • Start date Start date
R

R. L.

I myself is using Kerio. However, I want to help a friend to
put up a firewall, (she is just an average user who does not
do much advance computing and have a kid who always download
stupid stuff). She is using 98 and I have already put Outpost
in it but recently her Outpost is not doing very good and I
notice that there is no more update for Outpost. I am
consider switing from outpost to Sygate for her.

And another thing is that her monitor seems to go greyish and
sometimes come back to normal when she is on the internet and
browsing a page; then after a while lost the red color again.
I am suspecting it could be related to port communcation and
Outpost. Her son at one point had a very bad spyware movie
player put on the system and took me a lot of them to clean it
from time to time.

Recently, I have already put up Firefox for her and even
change the name of the IE exe file in her computer so Netzero
won't be able to use it.

So, is Sygate comparable to Outpost? Thanks.






--
RL
Unofficial Adaware Updater (+other goodies)
http://home.earthlink.net/~ringomei/page2.html
********************************
Pricelessware voting annual results and information:
http://www.pricelessware.org,
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org,
http://www.earths-ocular.com/mirror/www.pricelesswarehome.org/
 
I myself is using Kerio. However, I want to help a friend to
put up a firewall, (she is just an average user who does not
do much advance computing and have a kid who always download
stupid stuff). She is using 98 and I have already put Outpost
in it but recently her Outpost is not doing very good and I
notice that there is no more update for Outpost. I am
consider switing from outpost to Sygate for her.

And another thing is that her monitor seems to go greyish and
sometimes come back to normal when she is on the internet and
browsing a page; then after a while lost the red color again.
I am suspecting it could be related to port communcation and
Outpost. Her son at one point had a very bad spyware movie
player put on the system and took me a lot of them to clean it
from time to time.

Recently, I have already put up Firefox for her and even
change the name of the IE exe file in her computer so Netzero
won't be able to use it.

So, is Sygate comparable to Outpost? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sygate is probably better than Outpost, in my humble opinion, however
some may disagree... Try Sygate though, you'll probably like it..
 
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 01:21:50 GMT, R. L. wrote...
So, is Sygate comparable to Outpost? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I've never used Outpost so can't say how it compares to Sygate.
However, as a long term Sygate user I can say that I have never had an
easier to configure firewall that works as it should as Sygate. Used to
use Zone Alarm but after one bad update issue switched to Sygate and have
never looked back.
 
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 01:21:50 GMT, R. L. wrote...


Sorry, I've never used Outpost so can't say how it compares
to Sygate. However, as a long term Sygate user I can say
that I have never had an easier to configure firewall that
works as it should as Sygate. Used to use Zone Alarm but
after one bad update issue switched to Sygate and have
never looked back.
Click to expand...


Hmmm....I will try to download Sygate. Since I now have
installed firefox into that system which has a pretty good
filter, Sygate along should do a pretty good job.

Thanks.


--
RL
Unofficial Adaware Updater (+other goodies)
http://home.earthlink.net/~ringomei/page2.html
********************************
Pricelessware voting annual results and information:
http://www.pricelessware.org,
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org,
http://www.earths-ocular.com/mirror/www.pricelesswarehome.org/
 
Sygate is probably better than Outpost, in my humble
opinion, however some may disagree... Try Sygate though,
you'll probably like it..
Click to expand...

I am going to go for Sygate. Btw, I saw the free version has
some limitation, is it important? Would it still be enough
for normal usage?




--
RL
Unofficial Adaware Updater (+other goodies)
http://home.earthlink.net/~ringomei/page2.html
********************************
Pricelessware voting annual results and information:
http://www.pricelessware.org,
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org,
http://www.earths-ocular.com/mirror/www.pricelesswarehome.org/
 
The free version has some features disabled, however it's
adequate for most situations. I think you'll like it. I
used it for some time before purchasing the Pro version.

See the link for a short comparison of the two..

http://smb.sygate.com/products/pspf/summary_pspf.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks. Looks like it is pretty much enough for my friend who
is an average user and should be easy for her to use. I will
give it a try and uninstall Outpost.




--
RL
Unofficial Adaware Updater (+other goodies)
http://home.earthlink.net/~ringomei/page2.html
********************************
Pricelessware voting annual results and information:
http://www.pricelessware.org,
http://www.pricelesswarehome.org,
http://www.earths-ocular.com/mirror/www.pricelesswarehome.org/
 
Thanks. Looks like it is pretty much enough for my friend who
is an average user and should be easy for her to use. I will
give it a try and uninstall Outpost.
Click to expand...

There's only one thing I would warn you about. When you give an
application permission to access the internet, you should go into the
advanced options for that app and Uncheck the box which says "Act as
server". If you leave this checked, which it is by default for every
new app, it will give inbound permission to that app, which you don't
want 99.9% of the time. You want to allow programs going out, but
nothing coming in. Unless it's one of those peer to peer apps or
something like that which might need inbound connections..

Anyway, that's the only thing I can think of to watch out for.
Everything else is pretty straight forward. Sygate is very good. Good
logging and good protection.
 
I myself is using Kerio. However, I want to help a friend to
put up a firewall, (she is just an average user who does not
do much advance computing and have a kid who always download
stupid stuff). She is using 98 and I have already put Outpost
in it but recently her Outpost is not doing very good and I
notice that there is no more update for Outpost. I am
consider switing from outpost to Sygate for her.

And another thing is that her monitor seems to go greyish and
sometimes come back to normal when she is on the internet and
browsing a page; then after a while lost the red color again.
I am suspecting it could be related to port communcation and
Outpost. Her son at one point had a very bad spyware movie
player put on the system and took me a lot of them to clean it
from time to time.

Recently, I have already put up Firefox for her and even
change the name of the IE exe file in her computer so Netzero
won't be able to use it.

So, is Sygate comparable to Outpost? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I use Sygate Pro <paid ver> I can only say that I like it better than
Outpost and ZA...haven't tried any others. I like the advanced rules
and logs that Sygate affords...don't know if the free ver has advanced
rules ?
I also have a westell DSL modem w/ router built in...
Just the other day I went to Shields Up to do a routine port scan and
got the usual *all stealth* results. Out of curiosity, I set sygate to
allow all traffic. Still got complete *incoming* stealth just relying
on the westell router as a hardware firewall.....
For n00bs, I'm gonna guess that the free ZA will give decent
protection w/ very little imput required.
HTH
bLB
 
I use Sygate Pro <paid ver> I can only say that I like it better than
Outpost and ZA...haven't tried any others. I like the advanced rules
and logs that Sygate affords...don't know if the free ver has advanced
rules ?
Click to expand...

Yep, the free version has advanced rules, but I think you can only have
a max of 20 rules, or thereabouts... The Pro version is unlimited..
 
I use Sygate Pro <paid ver>..
I also have a westell DSL modem w/ router built in...
Just the other day I went to Shields Up to do a routine port scan and
got the usual *all stealth* results. Out of curiosity, I set sygate to
allow all traffic. Still got complete *incoming* stealth just relying
on the westell router as a hardware firewall.....
Click to expand...

If you want to test the firewall, instuct the westall to put your
computer in the DMZ, and then try shields up

FWIIW, NAT routers will allow all outgoing traffic, and restrict
incomming to response only ( that's why you passed shields up)
Firewalls will restrict both incomming and outgoing traffic, unless
allowed by a rule


A firewall is good protection against a malware. It will not allow the
malware to grab a port and start communicating out. A NAT router is no
protection at all against such a malware, since it lets everthing
originating on your side of the router out.

At least that's how I understand it
 
If you want to test the firewall, instuct the westall to put your
computer in the DMZ, and then try shields up

FWIIW, NAT routers will allow all outgoing traffic, and restrict
incomming to response only ( that's why you passed shields up)
Firewalls will restrict both incomming and outgoing traffic, unless
allowed by a rule


A firewall is good protection against a malware. It will not allow the
malware to grab a port and start communicating out. A NAT router is no
protection at all against such a malware, since it lets everthing
originating on your side of the router out.

At least that's how I understand it
Click to expand...

You're correct.
That's why I stated *incoming* :)
....and use Sygate to control outgoing < and incoming ,too>
The modem/router was a freebie w/ my DSL account and does afford an
extra line of defense.
bLB
 
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