What firewall is better to install?

samtoh4 · Post by **samtoh4** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 4:52 pm

What will be a better one firewall I can download and use for free, that will come with my windows xp and won't slow it down?

[User since edited his first post with a link to a drug site. B&. -- MOD]

3gengames · Post by **3gengames** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:59 pm

Yourself, as each one slows down your PC to a crawl. Judge the file size to the appropriate estimate, and if it's close, it's probably safe. If not, probably a virus. But if your downloading from IE, EVERYTHING is a virus then.

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:28 pm

Personally I never needed a firewall. I'm a very careful user, but if by any chance something bad happens (usually once every couple of years, or even less) I just format the hard drive. Also, when I need to do something I know is not safe, I do it inside a virtual machine or sandbox.

Anyway, formatting the hard drive every couple of years is not a bad thing, it helps to keep the system fast and stable. Windows can get pretty sluggish after a few years of continuous use.

I'd still like to hear any comments from pro-firewall users... Since I don't know much about the subject, I'd like to understand what the advantages of using one are.

Dwedit · Post by **Dwedit** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 9:36 pm

I've never noticed any difference between the Windows Firewall running and the Windows Firewall not running.

Super-Hampster · Post by **Super-Hampster** » Wed Aug 04, 2010 10:54 pm

3rd party firewalls all suck, including the ones that are built in to commercially sold antivirus programs. Windows firewall is enough. If you have a good router that may even be enough.

thefox · Post by **thefox** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:23 am

tokumaru wrote:Personally I never needed a firewall. I'm a very careful user, but if by any chance something bad happens (usually once every couple of years, or even less) I just format the hard drive. Also, when I need to do something I know is not safe, I do it inside a virtual machine or sandbox.

This. Spending so much time online quickly develops a hunch for that kind of thing. If I've a single suspicious file I upload it to Virustotal.

I do, though, have Linux acting as a firewall (iptables/shorewall) blocking the incoming ports that I don't need to be open. Also takes care of sharing the internet and stuff like that.

I did also use a Windows firewall at some point called Kerio Personal Firewall or something like that, but it has gone to shit since.

Post by **tepples** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 6:51 am

65024U wrote:Yourself

Not everybody administers a computer used only by himself. Some people administer a computer used by family members, co-workers, or even (in the case of an Internet cafe) the public.

tokumaru wrote:if by any chance something bad happens (usually once every couple of years, or even less) I just format the hard drive.

Which is a pain if the computer maker hasn't included a recovery disc, as most of the major computer makers have started not to do over the past few years according to a recent story posted to Slashdot. A lot of these include the recovery data on a partition of the hard drive and allow the end user to burn it to a DVD exactly once. If that backup ends up unreadable, or if your laptop had no optical drive in the first place, tough stool.

And sometimes using the firewall built into a consumer NAT router isn't enough. Once you start having problems with the Internet connection, the ISP's phone representative will tell you to bypass your router by unplugging it and connecting the Ethernet cable directly from the modem to the PC. At this point, if your modem happens to sync and your PC is running Windows, one of the various random-port-scanning worms might infect you in minutes.

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:10 am

Fortunately I'm not in any of the situations tepples mentioned.

In that case I can only suggest the person saves money and buys his own computer and OS so that he doesn't have to deal with those problems.

I did that back when I got my first job... As soon as I could I got my own PC, and ever since that I haven't worried about other people ruining my computer(s).

If that isn't an option, set up a sandbox and a virtual machine and instruct the people you share the computer with on how/when to use them.

peppers · Post by **peppers** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:31 pm

I guess its "nerd sheek" to avoid them but commercial firewalls/virus scans are useful, I use Norton......

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:37 pm

peppers wrote:Norton......

In my experience, everything that carries the name "Norton" is bloated and slow... I'm never going back to that crap. I do use a lightweight free AV, but that's mostly to allow me to identify threats, I don't expect it to actually block anything.

peppers · Post by **peppers** » Thu Aug 05, 2010 1:57 pm

the user interface could use some optimization but the "Auto-protect" and firewall use a reasonable amount to resources. And even though the "PC tune up" features are ether already built into windows or can be accomplished for free, I find them usefull. Since my ISP is charging me for Norton anyway I might as well use it.

UncleSporky · Post by **UncleSporky** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:18 pm

The best "firewall" is a program called DeepFreeze that logs all changes made to the hard drive and discards them on reboot.

Every day my computer is exactly the way it was a year ago when I set it up. I have a folder with program installers if I need to put something on temporarily. If I want to install something permanently I can "thaw" it, do what I need, and freeze it again. I don't know if I ever get infected with viruses and I don't care, because every restart means I'm clean again.

tokumaru · Post by **tokumaru** » Sat Aug 07, 2010 8:42 pm

UncleSporky wrote:The best "firewall" is a program called DeepFreeze that logs all changes made to the hard drive and discards them on reboot.

That's basically the same thing I do with virtual machines, but a little more extreme. I'd actually like to try DeepFreeze, but The problem is that it appears to be quite pricey, while VirtualBox is free.

For a while now I've been cutting back on the amount of pirated software I use, favoring free applications whenever possible (for example, I replaced Nero with ImgBurn, Photoshop with GIMP, CorelDraw with Inkscape, VMWare with VirtualBox, MSOffice with OpenOffice, WinRAR/WinZIP with 7-Zip, and some of them are actually better than what I used before, and not nearly as bloated). So even if DeepFreeze can be pirated easily, I'm not sure I'd be willing to.

UncleSporky · Post by **UncleSporky** » Mon Aug 09, 2010 5:07 am

tokumaru wrote:
UncleSporky wrote:The best "firewall" is a program called DeepFreeze that logs all changes made to the hard drive and discards them on reboot.
That's basically the same thing I do with virtual machines, but a little more extreme. I'd actually like to try DeepFreeze, but The problem is that it appears to be quite pricey, while VirtualBox is free.

A free alternative for Windows XP computers is Microsoft's SteadyState. I don't think they've made a version for 7 yet.

Hamtaro126 · Post by **Hamtaro126** » Mon Aug 09, 2010 12:54 pm

tokumaru wrote:
peppers wrote:Norton......
In my experience, everything that carries the name "Norton" is bloated and slow... I'm never going back to that crap. I do use a lightweight free AV, but that's mostly to allow me to identify threats, I don't expect it to actually block anything.

I really agree, Tokumaru. Norton programs might as well be a bunch of Viruses and Malware, I tried it and all I got is crap, Might as well try to sue thier asses! But until time comes, too powerful to even do that.

In other words, I've found Avast! Antivirus to be quite safe and useful at home. And it works on Windows 7 64-bit!