Which Firewall?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Skydragon
  • Start date Start date
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Skydragon

Hello,

Just got my new Dell 510 laptop - it came with the Nortons internet security
suit CD (90 days expiry).

However, the Nortons seemed resource hungry and my system was slow. (Then
again I was more used to my P4 (1g ram) desktop.

So I dumped the Nortons - I reformated the whole thing - installed Grisoft
AVG, and added Spybot, adaware - but not loaded as background programs. I
also turned on the XPhome(SP2) firewall.

The system is running faster although I'd like to tweak AVG to remove the
background update programs.

But just wondering whether I should download Zonealarm (free version) or
some other firewall.
 
Go for free ZoneAlarm, and ditch XP firewall
..(IMHO)
Note: too high a setting on ZA may cause problems with MSN, (it did for me).
I now use the *medium* setting.

HTH :-)
 
Interesting - I have ZoneAlarm too and have it set to "high". I have no
problems with MSN but I guess it's an individual thing and may be related to
other things that may be on the computer. If there are no problems with
MSN, I'd be inclined to increase the security level as high as possible,
bearing in mind that some other things may not work too. It seems to be a
balancing trick, doesn't it?
 
As you say. ....interesting.
I definitely can't make MSN work with the highest setting, but I certainly
agree with using the highest setting jf possible.
 
Skydragon another useful firewall is Sygate personal firewall
(www.sygate.com) I Use both zone alarm and sygate (same pc just different
partitions and operating systems - XP pro and Windows Server 2003) and find
them equally as good as one another.
 
personally I prefer Outpost from Agnitum.
it is a rules based firewall but has canned rules sets for different types of programs, like e-mail, ftp, etc...

biggest selling point is when you set OE for email type, it blocks the phone home scripts that all the others I have tried allow through.

its FREE, small footprint and miniscule resources.



(e-mail address removed)



Hello,

Just got my new Dell 510 laptop - it came with the Nortons internet security
suit CD (90 days expiry).

However, the Nortons seemed resource hungry and my system was slow. (Then
again I was more used to my P4 (1g ram) desktop.

So I dumped the Nortons - I reformated the whole thing - installed Grisoft
AVG, and added Spybot, adaware - but not loaded as background programs. I
also turned on the XPhome(SP2) firewall.

The system is running faster although I'd like to tweak AVG to remove the
background update programs.

But just wondering whether I should download Zonealarm (free version) or
some other firewall.
 
They do the job asked of them for most people.. your statement is
meaningless.. if you had been in the supporting cast of the movie 'Babe',
the cat would have designated you as having 'no purpose'.. cats are rarely
wrong.. :)
 
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