Software Firewall and IDS/IPS Advice?

Hi again.

I've been a user of Sygate Personal Firewall Pro since 5 years, in this time table, i tested a bundle of firewalls, some of them were good, some of them looked like the Aero interface , some of them didnt even secure me at all and the main reason, none of them had and IDS.

personally i am a security freak, Sygate gave me the chance to control even a small dll loaded from a trusted application, it takes time and nerves, but i got both of them. sygate "had" a very very good Intrusion Detection System (though it was more a Intrusion Prevention System) and a perfect logger, even if you machine wasnt addressed at all, sygate sniffed any incoming frame/packet, just perfect logging.

Are there similar software like Sygate's Personall Firewall? and the IDS? i found SNORT, im well surprised, i could even use it, but "user friendly" seems to be a different world from here.

ps. what happened to Sygate, i know Symanted bought it, but wheres the firewall? what did they do with it?

cheers, again.