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**Philip** · #1 (**permalink**) 03-23-2007, 09:18 PM

Hi fellow members of BBB:

Just wanted to know what software firewall are you running, any problems, would you recommend it to others, stuff like that. Feel free to add your comments. Thanks for your participation.

EvilSeph · #2 (**permalink**) 03-23-2007, 11:35 PM

Excellent poll. If this were a "which firewall do you think is best?" thread, I'd be stuck on the fence as they're all great software firewalls. Well, I've used them all and here's my "verdict" as it may be.

Comodo Personal Firewall Pro
Starting from the top (and rightly so), we have Comodo Personal Firewall Pro. Now, don't let the name fool you. It's a marketing scheme and a very clever way to inform the users of just how high level this firewall actually is. Now, this may be hard to believe since it's free, but I have yet to find any other completely free alternative that bests or even matches Comodo Personal Firewall Pro. It really does have all the features (and more) of a pay-for software firewall.

But didn't I just say I'd be stuck on the fence? Yep. There are some things included in Comodo Personal Firewall Pro that can "damage" your connection rather than protect it. There are times where it can be overly protective, although it's quite easy to fix that. The issue is the rules system isn't all too easy to understand and can be quite confusing at times. To remedy this, there are a few well-written guides on the Comodo Forums.

All in all, this software firewall is one of the best. But I would not recommend it to people that are not technically savvy. It really has a big learning curve. One con I just have to mention is the firewall has a problem with inspect.sys causing BSODs, however they are working to fix that.

Comodo Personal Firewall is unique in that Comodo have so far done everything the community has wanted and it seems like they will continue to do so. I can truly say Comodo Personal Firewall is a product from a company that really listens to its customers. If it isn't co-operation at the level a open-source project is, the next best thing is what Comodo models.

Summary:
I would only recommend this to the technically savvy due the big learning curve it could have with regards to its proper setup.

Outpost Firewall
I don't really have much to say about this firewall except that the support you get from the company is top notch and bugs are fixed at a better than reasonable speed.

I would definitely not recommend this to someone who is not technically savvy though. It has a bigger learning curve than Comodo (or it did, last time I tried it)

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Well really, I was going to post a summary of each firewall..but I think it's clear my opinion is biased. Even if I have used every firewall listed in the poll and can sell each one of them.

I simply love Comodo Personal Firewall. There is no other firewall that can match it, especially for its price (FREE) and the bonus of having a company that actually listens to its customers. I just hope they can fix the BSOD problem, it really becomes annoying after awhile.

If you're wondering what I am using now - I am relying on my router and the Windows XP SP2 firewall (which is all you really need if you're a normal computer user since it blocks all incoming traffic). The only advantage (although it's a big one) of running a firewall other than the Windows XP one is outbound protection.

**DrBroccoli** · #3 (**permalink**) 03-23-2007, 11:47 PM

Moved here
Not really a hardware question so to say =D.

EvilSeph · #4 (**permalink**) 03-24-2007, 12:16 AM

If you vote for other, please specify what "other" is.

On a side note..this topic doesn't really belong here. I think we need a forum reorganization.

**Philip** · #5 (**permalink**) 03-24-2007, 04:46 AM

EvilSeph:

I tend to agree with you about the forum reorganization. Maybe a separate area could be reserved for polls; I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm a sucker when it comes to voting in a poll, especially when I know the subject.

FYI, coming back to firewalls. I was a long-time Zone Alarm user, until I upgraded to their 6.x versions and found out that my contacts' display pictures in WLM had mysteriously vanished. I googled the web about this problem, and one of the top sites that appeared in the search results was BigBlueBall. I posted, princeG and TeaGranny replied, and...here I am!

I then switched to BitDefender (not too secure) and Kaspersky (secure, but too many confusing settings and tended to crash IE7) before settling with Comodo about 3 months ago. This firewall is a little gem, of course the first week or so it bombards you asking about whether to allow or block various programs and processes, but after that it stays pretty much out of your way, consuming little system resources, and really doing a good job of protecting your system. Unless anything better comes out, I'm sticking with Comodo, and btw, it's free

More info and download it here.

**MrEggsalad** · #6 (**permalink**) 03-24-2007, 11:33 AM

I say Zone Alarm because of it's great functionality and it's nice and pretty easy to use interface. On Windows it's the only thing I will use. Only problem is sometimes it causes an issue with certain anti-virus programs, but I trust Zone Alarm over any other.

Spike · #7 (**permalink**) 03-24-2007, 06:36 PM

You forgot the option of having no firewall; I hate software firewalls with a passion. Hardware firewalls are more efficient at what they do and are more customizable, as well as less obtrusive and use less resources on your computer. We get a lot of computers in at work with internet and/or connectivity problems, and all we have to do is uninstall ZoneAlarm and the problem disappears. Funny how that works, isn't it.

Yeah, I really don't like them. I've got my router I can set up however I want as a firewall, and if you have a router you shouldn't ever need to use a software firewall (provided your hardware firewall is good at doing what it does).