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Free Firewall
Posted: 2006-02-18 04:41pm
by Miles Teg
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
Posted: 2006-02-18 04:44pm
by Bounty
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.
Posted: 2006-02-18 06:54pm
by Datana
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.
Posted: 2006-02-18 07:09pm
by Superman
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?
Posted: 2006-02-18 10:16pm
by Naquitis
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
Posted: 2006-02-18 10:33pm
by Miles Teg
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 /..
Posted: 2006-02-19 12:34am
by Ace Pace
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.
Posted: 2006-02-19 05:12am
by Xon
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.