Firewalls

john_g83

Just a quick question. I use norton internet security at home and have to admit I find it very good. Thing is I just installed eircom broadband for a friend and he has no protection. Have told him to keep it plugged out for the time being. Is there any decent free firewall one can download or are they better off going with IS. I said I'd see if there was a decent product out there, or otherwise buy him IS. What do you think.....cheers

Fabritzo

www.zonealarm.com free and good, xp sp2 has a firewall though.

Download: http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/1012_zl/zlsSetup_55_062_011.exe

causal

Go with ZoneAlarm, the XP Firewall is a pita

causal

Shane O' Malley

Is he using the standard Eircom Netopia modem.

If so, there is a firmware upgrade available on the modem which turns on the hardware firewall on the modem.

Go to the address below. Click subscribe to Eircom Guardian (Don't worry you dont actually have to use it)

It will scan your modem for the correct firmware and recomend the upgrade and provide the link to a .bin file.

This needs to be installed onto the modem (Full instructions are provided) and then just don't continue with subscribing to Eircom Guardian.

While is does'nt prevent unauthorised outbound connections it does an excelent job with inbound. Passed all the Shield-up test and a few others.

And as it is hardware based it does not slow down your computer.


http://ebgsvc.eircom.net/ebg/info/

Syth

causal wrote:

Go with ZoneAlarm, the XP Firewall is a pita

causal

I have heard that the XP firewall only filters incoming packets and no outgoing packets. Is this true? If so it sound like a rubbish firewall. Once something gets in, it has free reign. A firewall should make it very difficult for attackers to 'attack'.

Shane O' Malley

That is not quite true. It will not allow internet access to unauthorised programs. However it is nowhere nearly as tight as Zonealarm.

Orion

Shane's correct but it's far from perfect. I'd definitely recommend Zone Alarm as well. I used to use Kerio but had serious problems getting games to work with it. So I ditched it.

Another free one is Outpost (http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost/). Haven't used it myself but I know some people who swear by it.

Caixa

Kerio Personal Firewall is very good too. I prefer it to ZoneAlarm, but for no reason in particular.

tba

Any of those mentioned allow specific IP and port filtering?

tba

excellent, I love using open source.

Thomas

does the zyxel from iol offer any hardware firewall and can it be turned on somehow? i have an eircom netopia too, can i use this on iol broadband?

tom

Shane O' Malley wrote:

Is he using the standard Eircom Netopia modem.

If so, there is a firmware upgrade available on the modem which turns on the hardware firewall on the modem.

Go to the address below. Click subscribe to Eircom Guardian (Don't worry you dont actually have to use it)

It will scan your modem for the correct firmware and recomend the upgrade and provide the link to a .bin file.

This needs to be installed onto the modem (Full instructions are provided) and then just don't continue with subscribing to Eircom Guardian.

While is does'nt prevent unauthorised outbound connections it does an excelent job with inbound. Passed all the Shield-up test and a few others.

And as it is hardware based it does not slow down your computer.


http://ebgsvc.eircom.net/ebg/info/

Shane O' Malley

I am not sure if it can be used on IOL.

The new firmware gives a new eircom branded screen when loging onto the modem. However i think it is still possible to change the dns, gateway and username and password settings.

May be worth a try if it is just lying around.

causal

tba wrote:

Any of those mentioned allow specific IP and port filtering?

Looks like you're going for WIPFW, but just for info - ZoneAlarm allows IP filtering, and ZoneAlarm Pro allows port filtering (you pay for the Pro version after iirc 1 month trial).

I have a firewall in my gateway/router and then ZoneAlarm on each machine.
Make sure the XP firewall is disabled - it often (if not always) very noticeably slows machines internet access.

causal

willshow21

Does anyone find zonealarm gets a little too "tough" sometimes? Like i find ZA cuts off firefox sometimes without even asking

jonski

After loads of problems , that turned out to be at an exchange level , I stopped using the different firewalls and started using the one within the netopia 3341 , seems to be working fine . using it now since last Tuesday .