Best Firewall

[Gnasher]

What is the best free firewall?

 

[askbros]

ZoneAlarm.

 

[Livinloud316]

I'll second zonealarm

 

[JesseRaymondBassett]

I'll third that.

Or you can do what I'm doing today and migrate over to Fedora Core 6. It's Linux so there is no need for antivirus/antispyware/firewall software. Plus you can still use programs like Realplayer for your MP3 player, and many other free software. It's a pain, but I recommend it.

 

[pgp_protector]

Incoming or outgoing ?

I've personally always liked a nice Hardware Firewall to at my first line of defense.

 

[Gnasher]

that's what I thought - just wanting to make sure we are using the best one, as there are so many around

 

[wolfman544]

i'll 4th zonealarm and 2nd a good hardware firewall. A layered defense is always nice. I think zonealarm have a hardware one out now too.

 

[Sketcher]

i'll 4th zonealarm and 2nd a good hardware firewall. A layered defense is always nice. I think zonealarm have a hardware one out now too.

+1.

Most routers these days have built-in hardware firewalls. People just don't know how to implement them.

 

[raphink]

I think the best is to use openBSD as a firewall. Using Linux is pretty good too, as it allows to open only the ports you need and set iptables rules.

 

[Gnasher]

I think the best is to use openBSD as a firewall. Using Linux is pretty good too, as it allows to open only the ports you need and set iptables rules.

openBSD I've not heard of that one - is is any good?

 

[Sketcher]

It's a different operating system. If you want to use Windows on your primary machine, you would need to have a second computer running openBSD (or Linux) and set up as a proxy server in order to use it.

 

[TwistTim]

for the absolute best firewall, it's one simple step... get a second computer like others say, but leave it unplugged from the internet, and surf on the first one, do everything else on the second one, keeping all data but your surfing/email secure, ;p yeah, not helpful there...

you could use Zone alarm I guess, though I prefer Peer Guardian for my firewall because of the five different areas of blocking, and ease of adding/removing sections of blocking for a limited time.....


and if you do use a physical firewall box, yes a linux box would suffice, OpenBSD? only if you want to mess with such a creature, and learn another OS or figure out to "break into" your router or maybe your dsl/cable modem and see what kind of firewalls you have there you can activate in then....

As my Novell teacher in College said, the most secure machine you can have is one that's unplugged and turned off, all other methods are just second best....

 

[Gnasher]

will have a look at Peer Guardian

 

[wolfman544]

Peer Guardian by Phoenix Labs?

 

[TwistTim]

Peer Guardian by Phoenix Labs?

yes, that's the one. make sure you check where you download it from, and make sure it's either from Phoenix Labs, or from a trusted download site.... otherwise who knows what you'll really get....(One time I got a bunch of spyware stuff because I tried to get it from somewhere else)

 

[wolfman544]

yes, that's the one. make sure you check where you download it from, and make sure it's either from Phoenix Labs, or from a trusted download site.... otherwise who knows what you'll really get....(One time I got a bunch of spyware stuff because I tried to get it from somewhere else)

joy spyware, evil stuff

 

[rdale]

Still like Sygate the best...