free firewall

[jmh547]

I am looking for a free firewall that has ip filters for at school. my roommate and i share files across the school network and us the ip filters to makesure we are the only two that can see the shared folders. I was using Norton but i wanted to try some other options because norton is such a hog.

Suggestions?

[brakezone]

ipfw for windows, if you can figure it out. http://wipfw.sourceforge.net/

[don256us]

I've started to use Comodo.

http://www.comodogroup.com/products/free_products.html

I have yet to find a feature that I need and it doesn't have. I seem to be able to set individual rules for just about anything.

[baballin328]

Zone Alarm?

[JigPu]

The built-in XP firewall does just fine, if you're OK with it not blocking outbound traffic (fine for most users). When you're in the firewall exceptions list, select "File and Printer Sharing" and click "Edit...". For each port, click the "Change scope..." button, and put in the IP address (or range) that you want to have it let through.

I use this myself to make sure that only my laptop has access to my shared files, since my roomates don't have such good computing habits (a worm they contracted once decided to attack my computer through File and Printer Sharing :mad: )

JigPu

[don256us]

Zone Alarm?
I used Zone Alarm for a long while. Lots of people like it. I found that it had a footprint that was a little too large for me. Maybe I just had some problems that could have been resolved but the Comodo seems to tell me more and give me as much or more control. For example, Zone Alarm would tell me that a program was trying to reach the outside world. (E.G. svrhost. Allow or Disallow?) Comodo tells me that a program is using another program to access the outside world. This is very useful information when the program is srvhost (E.G. BF2.exe is using srvhost. Allow or Disallow?).

The second example is much more useful to me. That's why I like Comodo over the others that I've tried.

[WeezleXX89]

Which is better? Zone alarm or Comodo?

[don256us]

For now, I like Comodo better but I can't give you any specific stats to say that it really is better or not.

[WeezleXX89]

So its just a matter of an opinion

[FeuerFrei]

Yeah, zone alarm uses much more ram for a crappy protection

[Audioaficionado]

I've started to use Comodo.

http://www.comodogroup.com/products/free_products.html

I have yet to find a feature that I need and it doesn't have. I seem to be able to set individual rules for just about anything.I've just grabbed a copy of the FW, vnengine, and the backup utility.

When I reinstall XP soon, I'll give these a try. Zone Alarm has been good to me but this one looks better.

[WeezleXX89]

Ive heard some negative remarks about zone alarm pro. I heard they are from Izreal and they send messages and bother you alot. I dont know if its true thats all i heard. So if you dissagree please let me know. I thought of getting zone alarm. right now im running Filseclab firewall. My chioce were zone alarm pro, comodo, or stick with Filseclab firewall.

[Xtreme Barton]

i prefer windows firewall... zone alarm is to much junk for me ..

[don256us]

Ive heard some negative remarks about zone alarm pro. I heard they are from Izreal and they send messages and bother you alot. I dont know if its true thats all i heard. So if you dissagree please let me know. I thought of getting zone alarm. right now im running Filseclab firewall. My chioce were zone alarm pro, comodo, or stick with Filseclab firewall.
I've had the free version of Zone Alarm for years. I also have installed it on countless client's machines and have NEVER heard or had ZA send ANY type of message. My opinion is that ZA does what it is supposed to do, it just seems to take a lot of resources doing it.

[WeezleXX89]

Zone alarm does take alot of your ram for sure.

[tenchi86]

Right now for me ZA is using 3.6MBs of ram. As for it sending data to 3rd parties. This was never proven except for private studies, it was also "fixed" a few versions ago so that should no longer be an issue. Anyway though I personally like ZA. I have run many test on it and properly configured I find it to be the most secure to non intrusive firewall out there. Still though it's of course not perfect and I am personally going to be trying some new firewalls on a PC I just built when my modem comes in.