Advice needed on a firewall software...

[Wael]

My Norton firewall is about to expire and I wanted to know if there was a more 'gamer' friendly firewall out there. Norton has caused me an endless stream of problems with my games since I got the damn thing and I would love to know if someone has better experience with a better firewall/antivirus.

Thanks!

 

[phycospawn]

. . . .

 

[site3op]

I've used BlackIce in the past and at the time found it to be really decent. I think that ZoneAlarm is another user friendly solution. I believe it informs you as programs access the internet to allow you to set your rules on the fly. Someone correct me if I'm wrong since I've never used ZA.

 

[sturm]

I have used ZA and have no problems. It does alert you on the fly and you can choose to block or deny per instance or have it remember the setting so you dont have to worry about it. Setup with my network just fine even with a vpn.

 

[Hoshimoto]

I used zone alarm since v3 and i got to admit it got this little bugs and sometimes huge bugs... i sick of it.

I used BlackICE in the past to, but heard bad thing about it something like it must be updates very frequently its somehow related to how it prevents programs from accessing internet, dont remember, guess i got to check it again.

 

[JesterX]

I highly recommend Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall (Paid, not free version) which is currently $15, a real bargain.

The HIPS protection is great and its a great firewall overall.
Its very easy to use, but it also has some more advanced options.

 

[russell]

Personally, I wouldn't think of paying for a personal firewall . I use nothing but free firewall, anti-spyware, and antivirus software . I am pretty bulletproof. The most common way that a well protected system gets infected is by the user unknowingly downloading or allowing the virus in themselves. Even then the anti virus should pick it up as soon as it starts to do anything in your system.

The software brands that I am currently using (all free) are:

Microsoft anti spy-ware (beta)
zone alarm personel firewall
Avast home edition antivirus

And if you want to add even more layers of protection get a router or/and run behind a proxy server.


Buy a firewall .... never!

 

[Nostromo2]

Paid version got more options/tweaks compared to free version, yeah i thinking bout router, but no money at moment. And i dont even run antivirus monitoring i just have scanner installed to check files i download from unknown surces and hardly finished system scan for half of year or more i know id ont have any viruses. I just need firewall to protect from hackers and worms.

 

[Nostromo2]

I highly recommend Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall (Paid, not free version) which is currently $15, a real bargain.

The HIPS protection is great and its a great firewall overall.
Its very easy to use, but it also has some more advanced options.

Oh i installed this Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall 4, 30 day trial first thing that come in mind this is kinda light firewall, not many options, no way to build rules or open certain ports, you just allow or permit application act as server or go out to internet, but you cant control what ports it gona use. I guess it dont worth 15$.

 

[hubbardt]

use a router so don't run a software firewall.
Prior to that I used ZoneAlarm and was very happy with it .....