The Best Free Firewalls Available for Mac and PC

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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If you are a neophyte to the world of computer firewalls, but still want to get the best free protection available, Digital Trends has put together a list of free firewalls that will give you varying degrees of protection.

It’s a delicate balance, because some firewalls don’t do enough to protect you and your information, while others close off too many ports, require a lot of user maintenance and cause problems with access to online games or streaming service.
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There is also Comodo Firewall: http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/

It is very good, but setting it up can be somewhat daunting. There are a lot of tweaks and stuff you can do with it. I've used it for a several years during the Windows XP and 7 days, before returning to Windows Firewall later on in 7 then in Windows 8.
 
I still use Outpost Firewall 2009 in my ancient, updated Windows XP Pro. SP3 box. :p
 
Any reason for a regular home user to deviate from the built in Windows firewall? I've used ZoneAlarm and Comodo about 8+ years ago (give or take, it's been a while), but decided they weren't worth the hassle.
 
BOTA:49 said:
Any reason for a regular home user to deviate from the built in Windows firewall? I've used ZoneAlarm and Comodo about 8+ years ago (give or take, it's been a while), but decided they weren't worth the hassle.
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Block outgoing connections IIRC.
 
Any time I can, I still prefer to use Sygate on my Windows boxes. Something that will let me have granular control over ingress and egress ports and even applications, along with robust logging and no hidden catches (lookin' at you, Sophos, on those).
 
BOTA:49 said:
Any reason for a regular home user to deviate from the built in Windows firewall? I've used ZoneAlarm and Comodo about 8+ years ago (give or take, it's been a while), but decided they weren't worth the hassle.
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Not really, unless you care about outbound connection control.

A regular ol' Windows home user will get more protection from getting away from using IE and instead using Firefox+NoScript. (This is, unfortunately, also a hassle; but security doesn't come easy, otherwise everyone would be fine.)

An exception being if you have a laptop which you take with you to insecure hotspots on a regular basis, at which point I'd implore you make sure the Windows firewall (or whatever you choose) is on.
 
I've never really found a situation where I've needed a software firewall. If you're behind a NAT router anyway you don't need one for incoming connections, the only thing I could see is for controlling outbound connections and that's not normally the issue when it comes to rogue programs not only that most of them take out all the popular firewalls first.

That being said, if you're regularly on unsecured Wi-Fi networks a software firewall makes a lot more sense, Windows Firewall at least.
 
crappy article with no depth.

This is [H]ard OCP. We can handle some more detailed information.
 
Exavior said:
yeah, starting with Vista they added the advanced firewall to do both
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This is true. But it is NOT enabled by default like inbound connections. i.e. for the new player... if you have any software that you don't wish to phone home against your will (there are lots of them that do it these days even legit software) then it just lets it happen unless you enable blocking of outbound in Windows Firewall (and then, of course, allow programs/ports for trusted applications).

This can be a trap for the new player (and even the old). Because i hate applications phoning home without my consent, its downright insulting. The only downside with Windows Firewall is that if you do block all outbound... it won't notify you if something tries to access. Which isn't a big deal if you want the simplicity of a build in FW. But its nice to have if you don't want to spend to many brain cells each time a legit app wants to get through and you have to jump those hoops.
 
I don't use firewalls or antivirus, that's one crap that doesn't do anything good except for blocking my stuff.
 
LonerVamp said:
Not really, unless you care about outbound connection control.

A regular ol' Windows home user will get more protection from getting away from using IE and instead using Firefox+NoScript. (This is, unfortunately, also a hassle; but security doesn't come easy, otherwise everyone would be fine.)

An exception being if you have a laptop which you take with you to insecure hotspots on a regular basis, at which point I'd implore you make sure the Windows firewall (or whatever you choose) is on.
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What about outbound connection control?
The current Windows firewall iteration, while set to allow by default, can easily be set to deny by default. The control on it is QUITE granular. And, unlike something like Zone Alarm, doesn't have a history of crashing, burning and permanently hosing your network connection.
 
CPY said:
I don't use firewalls or antivirus, that's one crap that doesn't do anything good except for blocking my stuff.
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Well, at least we know the reason YOUR machine is running so slow and erroring all over the place and throwing up unwanted ads isn't because your firewall or AV are doing it...
 
Chas said:
Well, at least we know the reason YOUR machine is running so slow and erroring all over the place and throwing up unwanted ads isn't because your firewall or AV are doing it...
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Yeah, because it's impossible to be a smart web browser and not get yourself infected. I don't run any local AV or firewall either and I'm willing to bet that my machine is just as clean if not more so than any common users machine with all that bloat ware on there.

NAT router plus smart browsing/clicking habits is all you "need".

That said I have a hardware firewall, software firewalls don't make any sense to me as the traffic made it to the element you're trying to protect.
 
Chas said:
Well, at least we know the reason YOUR machine is running so slow and erroring all over the place and throwing up unwanted ads isn't because your firewall or AV are doing it...
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Never had virus, no ads, my machines are running fast, much faster than your BFU machine with whatever antivirus/firewall crap thinking you're protected. I guess i'm just better than you. I can check with wireshark, no spam is being send from my CPU, no botnet nothing.
 
Oh i forgot to mention, i wonder why everyone i know want me to "fix" their slow pc or overclock their machines, or unlock phones, or just install new firmware on whatever crap they bring me. I wonder.
 
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