Free Firewall

Miles Teg · Post by **Miles Teg** » 2006-02-18 04:41pm

What's a good free firewall for windows out there? I've used Zone Alarm for a while, but I've heard that Zone Alarm reports "anonymous" usage statistics back to Zone Labs, which is unacceptable to me (the point of a firewall is to STOP unauthorized traffic, not generate it). Any alternatives that are free and/or open source?

Miles Teg

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-02-18 04:44pm

I've used Zone Alarm for a while, but I've heard that Zone Alarm reports "anonymous" usage statistics back to Zone Labs

Have you got a source on this ? As far as I know, it only contacts Zonelabs to check for updates, which can be disabled.

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2006-02-18 06:54pm

AFAIK, Zone Alarm only checks for updates unless you're using the Pro version. For Pro, it also makes DNS queries on incoming IPs and appears to randomly check for license validity.

If you're hell-bent on replacing Zone Alarm (or simply need some more configurability on port ranges) Kerio Personal Firewall is a pretty good choice. Kerio has discontinued it, but it seems that another company has bought rights to continue development on it.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2006-02-18 07:09pm

I was just going to ask this. I don't know why, but Zone Alarm sucked up lots of my pc's resources, and Kerio actually caused my PC to blue screen.

Anything else?

Naquitis · Post by **Naquitis** » 2006-02-18 10:16pm

I've use Avast one on of my computers. I actually liked it. Try it out, it's free for a year, then you've got to redownload it. www.avast.com

Miles Teg · Post by **Miles Teg** » 2006-02-18 10:33pm

Bounty wrote:
I've used Zone Alarm for a while, but I've heard that Zone Alarm reports "anonymous" usage statistics back to Zone Labs
Have you got a source on this ? As far as I know, it only contacts Zonelabs to check for updates, which can be disabled.

Hmm.. I can't remember where I read it, probably /..

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-02-19 12:34am

Miles Teg wrote:
Bounty wrote:
I've used Zone Alarm for a while, but I've heard that Zone Alarm reports "anonymous" usage statistics back to Zone Labs
Have you got a source on this ? As far as I know, it only contacts Zonelabs to check for updates, which can be disabled.
Hmm.. I can't remember where I read it, probably /..

It was on Theinquirer, several articles about it, ZA fixed the issue.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2006-02-19 05:12am

WinXP sp2 firewall is enough for inbound protection.

Outbound protection is a case of trying to close the stable door after the horses have bolted and layed down C-4 demolitions charges.