MicroTik vs blackice or zonealarm

[Dimorphios]

I recently responded to someones thread about which firewall they should, I recommended building a cheapo 486 or pentium class box and running Microtik on it... (you know make an actual roater/firewall) and I noticed that the guy was being flooded with recommendations to get zonealarm... I have used zone alarm and its a very nice SUBSITUTE for a real router/firewall, but not quite as... BEEFY... anyhow... being as this is the internets hidden pool of knowledge... and we are the forfront of pc config, mod and performance I was just wondering if anyone else has set up a Microtik router and what their experience has been with it... so lets call this a debate I want to hear all the opinions.. ASSUMING that you have set up a router/firewall as well as used simple software like zonealarm or blackice.....

- Dimorphios

 

[Silversinksam]

IMHO Zonealarm is the best software firewall there is, but a hardware firewall is definitly the way to go.

I suppose having both couldnt hurt

 

[Tweak]

IMHO Zonealarm is the best software firewall there is, but a hardware firewall is definitly the way to go.

I suppose having both couldnt hurt

While I agree that a hradware firewall is the best way. I think that Norton Personal firewall is the best software firewall to have. It has more features than Zonealarm and blocks unauthorised outgoing traffic.

 

[Dissolved]

While I agree that a hradware firewall is the best way. I think that Norton Personal firewall is the best software firewall to have. It has more features than Zonealarm and blocks unauthorised outgoing traffic.

ZA is better cuz it has more options, at least the pro version is. Norton is said to slow pc performance down alot. so i dont like to use it.

 

[Pat]

Just loaded Sygate Personal Firewall Pro & it installed great & is easy to monitor & setup!

Pat

 

[takiwa]

I have used several different firewalls, and IMHO, I think one of the best for configurations would be Norton, but it does use a lot of resources. As far as ease of use (and price ), you are gonna be hard pressed to find one that will outdo ZoneAlarm...never tried the Pro version, so I can't comment on that one. Check out www.grc.com for info on alot of different firewalls...what you should and shouldn't look for in one, and especially his write-up of BlackIce...not very impressive

 

[Dissolved]

blackice isnt a firewall, it more watches traffic. its just crap software for ppl to waste money on. that was the THING to get for noobie a few years back.

 

[WillysNut]

I would give this article at GRC.com a read. At the bottom of the rather long article which discusses DDoS attacks, the author reviews both ZA and BID.

BID is full of holes. I don't know about microTik but I use ZA on all of my machines and everything is safe...for now. Tiny personal firewall is another that I've heard good things about.

 

[Dissolved]

oh yea, i totaly forgot about tiny. I highly reckamend Tiny. i like its feature that tells you what ports each program is using.

 

[Monaco]

I use ZA, my favorite- Gibson's write up pretty much sealed the deal on ZA forever a while ago.

Not as good as a hardware firewall, but it's more than enough for a regular guy like me.