Hey all,
I gave up on Norton last week. I have tryed Sygate but it seems to block stuff I don't want to, even when I tell it not to. Any other people use and like?

Thanks
VH

A friend of mine say that Kerio is a good (and free) firewall

I have to admit, I love zonealarm, (the free version). It is simple to use,reliable and best of all free.
I however am not so keen on the pro version as it gets clumsy and invasive so stick to the free one.

Avalible from

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conten...=dbtopnav_zass

well i use the whole zonealarm suit and i love it....But it forgets what i tell it....also Sygate is a WONDERFULL firewall one of the greats it just takes a keen mind and someone willing to work at it to make it work but when set properly its awsome

Zonealarm leaves some ports open and unsecured and you can’t close them also lets some programs broadcast to the out side net with out you even knowing. I would stick with Sygate after a wile you will get to know how it works and its not that hard to set up.

really what are the holes in Zonealarm....MAybe I should switch back???

go to probe.Hackerwatch.org/probe/ and it will show you which one are open on your set up on most systems port 79, 139,143,443 are open and unsecured they should be invisible even if they need to be open,

After reading your post coathi, you had me worried, so I followed your link and tried the tests.
I am happy to report that my zonealarm passed with flying colours in both the probe and the port scan.
The probe couldn't find my computer and all of the ports tested were secure. if your tests were different I suggest that you get the latest version, or if it is then revert to the free one.

Just ran that port scan. My rounter NAT blocked all of them. I still wanner get a new software Firewall tho. Il look into the ones that have been suggested here.

VH

Good to hear you scan passed with flying colours Drifternz, I haven’t used zonealarm for a long time after a port scan showed some open ports, and it might have been some problem in the older versions of zonealarm that has been rectified in later versions. I’m happy using Sygate if Im using XP on the net, but its not very often I use XP maybe a few times a month. Any way it’s still best to check from time to time, because some times programs can open ports with out the fire wall detecting it.

Kerio firewall has moved, I believe...

http://www.kerio.com/kerio-pr-us-2005-2963.html

http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio.cfm - Still available as Free/Pro, with an Ultra-cheap introductory offer.

Not clear from the screenshots, but I assume even the free version is still fully rules based

Ok, Out of curiosity I thought I would have a look at sygate seeing that coathi likes it so much.
Unfortunately it seems that sygate is no longer an option as this is what greated me at their site.

Important Notice: Effective November 30th, 2005 all Sygate personal firewall products will be discontinued. This does not affect Sygate's Enterprise firewall and endpoint compliance products, which will still be updated and supported.

ZoneAlarm Pro rocks! I went to Hackerwatch's site and here's the good news:

SIMPLE PROBE:

"Packets were successfully sent to your computer. The server was unable to obtain a connection or any traffic from your computer. This generally indicates that your firewall blocked the traffic successfully."

PORT SCAN:

Secure
21 (FTP)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Secure
23 (Telnet)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Secure
25 (SMTP Mail Server Port)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Secure
79 (Finger)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Secure
80 (HTTP)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Secure
110 (POP3 Mail Server Port)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Secure
139 (Net BIOS)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Secure
143 (IMAP)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Secure
443 (HTTPS)
This port is completely invisible to the outside world.

Thanks for the link -- makes me feel even better about ZAP. I don't know about the free version, but for under $20 it's a steal!

It is. passes the probe.Hackerwatch tests without difficulty.

Good to know

I think that I'll give a try

If I remember correctly I was reading it some where I think it’s Norton who brought out Sygate last year and stopped the free version. Another good firewall gone to the Dogs, I have heard the last free version release of Sygate was still available on Bit torrent a few weeks ago.

It took you that long? LOL

OutPost Firewall is also a great firewall.
Same result as bret34's ZoneAlarm.

Kerio all the way