Decent reliable and capable Firewall...
 

I'm interested in some free alternatives rather than pay for service Firewalls since they seem to do just about the same job. Problem is, 2/4 PCs at home have been running Norton Systemworks 2006. I'm no big fan of it but family members here can't be bothered with advanced setting features and whatnot. So seeing as how everyone will be away except me, :ashamed: I'll go ahead and replace Norton with NOD32 for antivirus and I haven't made my mind up on a suitable firewall. Links, opinions and whatever you can jot down here would be quite useful. Also, I'm staying away from ZoneAlarm's Firewall. It seems to have issues when connecting a Nintendo DS via wifi. :doh:

Bottom of the page...

http://www.nintendowifi.com/consumer..._compatibility

Try Sygate Personal Firewall.
It is adequately customizable, monitors activities in an efficient way, isn't too intrusive and blocks incoming malware very well.

If you opt for it, go for version 5.5. I've heard the newer 5.6 has potential bugs/holes, but that would certainly require confirmation.
5.5 can be found here.

No Software Firewall can ever replace a Hardware Firewall. I configure the one in my router.

Know how to configure a Linksys BEFSR41?

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

Indeed that is true, but I haven't found an external firewall device that can do application control on an o/s; which is the main reason why I also have an internal software firewall.

I'd recommend Kerio. It's small, uses just the right amount of system resources to run, and it's effective. Give it a shot.

If you need application-level control, I'd grudgingly use Kerio as well. I dropped it because it was an insane resource hog on my system, but it was still better than ZoneAlarm or the Windows Firewall.

To T1249: Out of the box, most routers are configured quite well enough for home networks, just so long as you encrypt the traffic with WPA (if it's wireless) and change the default admin username/password. It'll hide ports, control access, and everything else that's needed automatically.

I fully concur with Arainach statement. WPA is far more effective in securing your network then WEP, which, although it uses a good cipher, it wasn't constructed by security experts, but by engineers.

If you want, you can listen to a podcast that will give you more information about WEP and the recommend WPA for securing wireless networks. Download episode 11 & 13. That should bring you up to speed.

Wow. That's the first time I've heard such a claim. Kerio, by design, is not meant to be a resource hog. What do you think caused it?

I never did figure out exactly why it was happening except that it was (even survived an uninstall/reinstall), and since I don't need application-level control (over the years I've actually gotten to the point where, between Open-Source software and shelling out cash, I own all software on my system), I just dropped it entirely.

Any piece of software that is designed to monitor and update your port status in real-time is going to be a resource hog. It is the very nature of software firewall programs and one of the main reasons hardware firewalls exist.

Kerio sounds like a keeper but as it turns out it has a limited 30-day trial.

Indeed.

That's true, but that's just to keep all the advance features. After the 30 day trial, it switches over to basic, which in itself is very secure. It still does application control; you just don't get all the nice web filtering technology.

I just got into Keiro after Zone Alarm crashed one too many times (thus bringing down my internet for a few minuets). But it's not the new Kerio, but version 2.1.5, considered by many one of the best freeware firewalls availible (snag it here). Get it configured according to these steps and you should have a rock solid firewall with very little system resource usage.

I found a decent firewall, who would've actually thought PCMag would have info I wasn't aware of. :)

http://www.personalfirewall.trustix....ica&country=US

I'm interested to see if you Kaiten, with all those recommended settings pass the test on the link above?

One problem Arainach. The thread maker stated that he is using a NDS wirelessly. WPA is NOT compatible with the NDS.

Kerio 2.1.5 ONLY blocks inbound and outbound network traffic, NOT what happens to the programs. So what the test does doesn't test my firewall, since it goes through approved programs to get the job done.

Agnitum Outpost is pretty good in my opinion.