Firewall recommendations please

[derek123]

I want to buy a firewall
Which are the good ones ?

Thanks

[KaHNZa]

Do you want a hardware or software firewall?
I would suggest:
Software: ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonealarm.com)
Hardware:Linksys Router (http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=20&grid=5)

[RedDeathDrinker]

Unlike Highlander: "There is only one.......",

there are two market leaders

McAffee and Norton

Both are excellent

Easy as that!!!!

[UnseenMenace]

Software :- Zone Alarm
Hardware :- Netgear Router

[[Oc]acaridans]

Software :- ZoneAlarm, I think would be very happy buying the professional version, it gives you quite a few configuration options

Hardware :- Linksys router, Though Netgear is very good also.

I have a Linksys router my isp got infected with code red, and I was getting bombarded with pings. I threw ZA up on my machine to see if any thing was getting through..Happy to say nothing got in.

[rugby]

Here's a friendly reminder to properly post this topic in the networking forum. There just might be a couple of visible posts about routers that you could read.

[RedDeathDrinker]

I think NETWORKING is more about LAN's rather than Internet advice....

What about a new topic on the internet?

Oh, by the way, Zone Alarm is available as a free download from Zonelabs.com (http://www.zonelabs.com)

I'm going to try it tonight....

[e_storm]

I use Norton...it has worked very well for me thus far. It gives you the option to view all traffic coming in and out of your computer and make the decision whether to let it in or out.

[rugby]

Originally posted by reddeathdrinker
I think NETWORKING is more about LAN's rather than Internet advice....

What about a new topic on the internet?


I'm going to try it tonight....

I agree that networking used to be more about the LAN. I've been studying for some Cisco exams and have been reading a LOT of material (Cisco and others like 3Com, Nortel, vicomsoft) and they used to refer to the 80/20 rule. you want 80% of your traffic on the LAN and 20% off. LAN speeds are MUCH higher than WAN connections so that makes sense. Now however the rule is changing to a 70/30 rule. As Internet connections get faster and faster the lines will be blurred as to the WAN and LAN. Even now with the price of broadband dropping and new service moving into a lot of neighborhoods it's becoming broadband world.

Oh yeah, and if it's got an ethernet plug on it, it's a network device on the etherNETWORK...:)

[skip]

A Router is not a true Firewall. Yes, they can block access to ports but have no defense against certain types of attacks such as Syn flood, Ping of death, IP Spoofing, Land attack, Smurf amplification, sequence number prediction and FIN. For this you need a true Firewall solution.

Software solutions such as Zone Alarm work well. For Hardware based for the Home, Sonic Wall is great and afordable. For Enterprise, the Cisco Pix.

There are many solutions out there, you have to find what's best for YOU and go from there.

[*spazzed*]

Zonealarm works great for me. McAfee and Norton seem to crash my comp everytime i block something. Zonealarm works flawlessly, so far anyway. I have to get a router soon too.......

[William]

actually the Linksys Firewall seems to be very weak to me as it allows lots of scans through(try BlackIce and see what happens). ZoneAlarm is Steve Gibson's favorite and Tiny Personal Firewall is very good also.

[Ebola]

never ever use norton or mcaffee. they bog your system down too much. if you have to use a firewall then use zone alarm.

[rugby]

Originally posted by skip
A Router is not a true Firewall. Yes, they can block access to ports but have no defense against certain types of attacks such as Syn flood, Ping of death, IP Spoofing, Land attack, Smurf amplification, sequence number prediction and FIN. For this you need a true Firewall solution.

Software solutions such as Zone Alarm work well. For Hardware based for the Home, Sonic Wall is great and afordable. For Enterprise, the Cisco Pix.

There are many solutions out there, you have to find what's best for YOU and go from there.

I have set up some sonicwalls and must say they are quite easy to use. Nice web interface. I even got 6 of them in a VPN here and it was extremely easy to do.

Cisco Pix I don't have any experience with, how different is it from the regular old IOS from their routers/switches?

[Newbie_Doo]

Moved to Networking. General Hardware wasn't quite right, and neither was Software. LOL

[JuDgE_DrEaD]

I would reccomend not using norton personal firewall since it seems its security isnt as good as ZoneAlarm. I was running both at the same time(dont know if this causes problems) and norton personal firewall was blocking less than half the subseven attacks that ZoneAlarm was....

[netnic30]

Consumer quality routers provide Dynamic addressing (DHCP server) and Network address translation. Port level blocking is also available but does not address various types of protocol attacks protocol numbers <> port numbers.

The advantage of a hardware firewall is that for programs like black ice, zone alarm and the like the nic on the target computer is still subject to high network traffic even if the packet is rejected by software.

In answer to another post at the lowest level there is no difference between a CISCO pix and IOS with the firewall subset installed. for higher volume traffic the correctly sized pix would be the right choice. otherwise a 2611 with 2 10/100 interfaces and the firewall featureset of IOS would work just fine.

[dugans]

Here is another vote for zonealarm- easy to use, thorough small foot print

and a vote for a linksys router- I tried netgear, but didn't work well for me

[klosters64a]

It's my understanding(which isn't necessarily thorough or deep) that any machine connected to a network is insecure. A stand alone machine in a locked room that only you have the key to is secure. And boring.

[Amedeo602]

I tried the zonealarm pro version, but it blocked my isp from connecting to me and i couldn't find the option to enable it...so i switched to the regular version and haven't had a single problem with it....the biggest issue was adding a -minimize flag to the shortcut at startup to keep it from popping up when i boot up

i'm supposed to get a d-link router with a built in firewall today, but i don't know how well it works. i bought it for the router/switch, the firewall part was just extra :)

[DuckDodgers]

I personally use ZoneaAlarm Pro and a Linksys Wireless -G Broadband Router. And am quite happy with both. Been using ZA for years. :beer:

[Dreamstalker]

I use ZA Pro at school, and ZA Pro w/Linksys router when I'm home. Works very well. I was using Norton, but it bogged my poor already-crappy laptop down too much.

My mom also has Norton and ZAP, and I was seeing a lot of conflicts last summer. So if you already have Norton IS, don't use both firewalls.

[dkdgbroyles]

Sygate,good stuff,good stuff.

[UlicBelouve]

Zone Alarm. At least it doesn't crash when updated or anything. I've fixed a lot of customers' problems where Norton Int Sec has broken and they cannot get online.

I just like Zone Alarm, it gives me flexibility in control. I like using it for other comps, to turn off IM or something on it, with the program control, and turn it back on if needed. I did this at a college office that I worked at, there were ppl that would IM too much. I would turn it on if I needed it to get in contact with someone for the work there, then disable access to it in Zone Alarm. Worked like a charm. That and blocking games from going online too. And it's not a resource hog.

So, another vote for Zone Alarm.

[unreal]

i love sygate firewall , works great for me..

[hkgonra]

A Router is not a true Firewall. Yes, they can block access to ports but have no defense against certain types of attacks such as Syn flood, Ping of death, IP Spoofing, Land attack, Smurf amplification, sequence number prediction and FIN. For this you need a true Firewall solution.

Software solutions such as Zone Alarm work well. For Hardware based for the Home, Sonic Wall is great and afordable. For Enterprise, the Cisco Pix.

There are many solutions out there, you have to find what's best for YOU and go from there.

I think sonicwall is a little pricey for home use. The one I have here cost about $1200. For homes use IPcop or smoothwall would be my pick.

[ghettocomp]

I actually use 2 (sort of) firewalls, free ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp), one on each PC. And I built my own hardware firewall, DCHP/whatever from an old P166 and installed Smoothwall (http://www.smoothwall.org/) a free linux based firewall.
all good stuff

[andy334]

smoothwall is great , took me 2 days to figure it out ,had problem with ip release /renew to get to smothee GUI ,and then had problem to log in typed Admin instead "admin",and then reaintalled smwall like 10 times before lerned "setup instruction in root line
read a lot hope you will not have my problems which now look like nothing big to me,
wery nice GUI

[andy334]

And smoothwall is a real firewall not like linksys NAT filter until now i used linksys router /switch

[ps2cho]

iv got a DLink 624 router, i dont use a firewall nor an anti-virus. my computer runs awsome. all i do is run an ad-aware every month and iv never had any problems.

=)

[X1ggy]

Netgear RO318 here. 8 ports, so no need to maintain firewall software on all of my PC's. Completely stealths all ports/IP addresses. Works beautifully!

X1g

[spookeboom]

ZoneAlarm
it is also free

[bru]

Smoothwall!
www.smoothwall.org

[stereo555]

Never a problem with :
Zonealarm+Linksys (hard wired)
Zonealarm+Netgear (Wifi)
Sygate+Linksys (hard wired)
Sygate+Netgear (Wifi)

Currently running
Sygate+Netgear (Wifi) on 3 rigs in the house (Intel and Amd rigs) . Been VERY happy with Sygate for the last 3-4 years and never an intrusion to date .