Personal Firewall Roundup

[XPerties]

Many people ask , what software firewall is the best? Well at the screensavers, Kevin did major test on all firewalls and scanning ports, attacks, logging, blockage and many other things. I was surprised on who won and which ones where thrown out from the very beginning. I thought some of you might like to read this article.

Like anyone concerned with security, I want to know which software firewall offers the most protection. So I took the top four firewalls for a test drive. I'll share my test results on tonight's "Screen Savers."

Tech TV / Screensavers

[rik]

Good article. I personally use the Zone Alarm and am happy with it.

[techguy21801]

ugh..mcafee more like mcrapee it has one main flawed in my opinion it does too good of a job and blocks EVERYTHING. especially when people who use dialup have it. and when you disable it it doesn't disable it just says it is, but secretlly it's in the background....it's a giant pain it you have to troubleshoot internet problems with it running..

[XPerties]

ugh..mcafee more like mcrapee  it has one main flawed in my opinion it does too good of a job and blocks EVERYTHING.  especially when people who use dialup have it.  and when you disable it it doesn't disable it just says it is, but secretlly it's in the background....it's a giant pain it you have to troubleshoot internet problems with it running..

Funny thing is mcafee was the only one to stop all attacks that where preformed.

[edg21]

Personally, I've found that the built in XP firewall along with a up to date virus scanner such as NAV prevent almost all virus/trojan infections. I download in excess of 2gb a day from various sources & I haven't had a virus in over 2 years. The chances of someone using a uncrecognized trojan/virus on you are pretty slim. I suggest firewalls to people who are paranoid/ignorant of how computers work. ie: Joe Bob downloading anything & everything from Kazaa that has Britney or Christina's name on it

[XPerties]

Personally, I've found that the built in XP firewall along with a up to date virus scanner such as NAV prevent almost all virus/trojan infections.  I download in excess of 2gb a day from various sources & I haven't had a virus in over 2 years.  The chances of someone using a uncrecognized trojan/virus on you are pretty slim.  I suggest firewalls to people who are paranoid/ignorant of how computers work.  ie: Joe Bob downloading anything & everything from Kazaa that has Britney or Christina's name on it

XP firewall was thrown out with the first test. As quoted on Screensavers "It's a piece of junk".

[edg21]

XP firewall was thrown out with the first test. As quoted on Screensavers "It's a piece of junk".

Hmmm... I didn't get blaster or <insert virus name here> so I don't see how it's a piece of junk. I just installed NAV2k4 a couple days ago (haven't had a virus scanner for about 6 months) & it says my system is clean. Tell me... how is that junk? I can see how some people would like being able to have control over what goes in/out of their computer, but the fact is that in most cases it's just not needed. The built in XP firewall works just fine. And my norton is currently shutdown... because I don't need it. I don't d/l bulls*** from random places, nor do I open emails from people I don't know.

[XPerties]

XP firewall was thrown out with the first test. As quoted on Screensavers "It's a piece of junk".

Hmmm... I didn't get blaster or <insert virus name here> so I don't see how it's a piece of junk. I just installed NAV2k4 a couple days ago (haven't had a virus scanner for about 6 months) & it says my system is clean. Tell me... how is that junk? I can see how some people would like being able to have control over what goes in/out of their computer, but the fact is that in most cases it's just not needed. The built in XP firewall works just fine. And my norton is currently shutdown... because I don't need it. I don't d/l bulls*** from random places, nor do I open emails from people I don't know.

Firewalls do not help you from stop from getting viruses. Common sense does.

First off you could have a Trojan on your pc that sends information out to the owner of the Trojan. XP firewall DOES NOT stop any information being sent out. That makes a firewall good.

Also Norton does not detect all Trojans. In fact it's one of the worse to detect Trojans. If you do not know Trojans and viruses are 2 different items.

Also XP does not stop DDOS attacks, meaning it does not make you stealth. You may be shown stealth but the attacker does get a response back from the XP firewall which tell the attacker you are there. Other firewalls such as mcafee and zone alarm do not send any response which lets the attacker move on.

I haven't had a firewall on my system for over a year. Have I received any viruses? Nope. That is because I use common sense and do not use the view feature in outlook or outlook express nor do i open any attachments or click links from e-mail I get from people I do not know.

You might want to start looking at firewalls and what they should and shouldn't do. BTW XP firewall effects other apps working properly on the net. If you haven't noticed you have just been lucky.

I'm not here to argue. It's your PC, I'm just stating the facts because security on the net is one of my primary jobs.

[Doggie]

well i honestly use neither firewall or anti virus programs now.. i never had a virus as i dont download file i dont know nor get them from suspicious looking sites

[edg21]

well i honestly use neither firewall or anti virus programs now.. i never had a virus as i dont download file i dont know nor get them from suspicious looking sites

amen.

[edg21]

Firewalls do not help you from stop from getting viruses. Common sense does.

First off you could have a Trojan on your pc that sends information out to the owner of the Trojan. XP firewall DOES NOT stop any information being sent out. That makes a firewall good.

Also Norton does not detect all Trojans. In fact it's one of the worse to detect Trojans. If you do not know Trojans and viruses are 2 different items.

Also XP does not stop DDOS attacks, meaning it does not make you stealth. You may be shown stealth but the attacker does get a response back from the XP firewall which tell the attacker you are there. Other firewalls such as mcafee and zone alarm do not send any response which lets the attacker move on.

I haven't had a firewall on my system for over a year. Have I received any viruses? Nope. That is because I use common sense and do not use the view feature in outlook or outlook express nor do i open any attachments or click links from e-mail I get from people I do not know.

You might want to start looking at firewalls and what they should and shouldn't do. BTW XP firewall effects other apps working properly on the net. If you haven't noticed you have just been lucky.

I'm not here to argue. It's your PC, I'm just stating the facts because security on the net is one of my primary jobs.

I'm aware of what a trojan is in comparison to a virus I played around with sub7 in it's infancy so yes... I know about trojans. I also know that I've had to fix plenty of clients computers because they thought they needed to add a firewall & ended up with screwed tcp/ip stacks and/or screwed winsock files. So I'm very aware of how they work & I still don't think they're needed in most situations.

[XPerties]

crist!

I just posted this review. I don't give a fly anything what anyone uses. Im behind a nat so everything else is a waste of my time.

[edg21]

I just didn't like how you assumed that I didn't know the difference between a virus & a trojan because I didnt' agree with you. No hard feelings

[XPerties]

I just didn't like how you assumed that I didn't know the difference between a virus & a trojan because I didnt' agree with you. No hard feelings

was just explaining how inaffected XP firewall was. Anyways no hard feelings for anything.