Tell me how to protect my computer

[willmiller]

My firewall that comes with my windows xp slows down my computer. What will be a better one firewall I can download and use for free?

[katzdvd]

Hi willmiller,

Free version of Zonealarm Firewall -

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en

Regards, katz

[Chewy]

I would suspect windows xp and/or other programs are what's slowing your computer, the native windows firewall is so lame I don't see how it could impact performance

thread moved from divx to general computing

[soup]

It is not free but I would recommend SystemSuite by VCOM for a one stop protection program, 2-way firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware & a whole lot more.

http://www.v-com.com/

[drfsupercenter]

I'm just curious, is there any point in having a firewall if you want all the ports open?

[olyteddy]

I trust my router's firewall. No need for a software one. I doubt my desktop is gonna launch an attack against my laptop, or heaven forbid they gang up on the printer...

[ed klein]

I'll second what KATZDVD said, Zonealarm firewall, just keep the zonealarm firewall cleaned out for no longer used items and it works great, very little slow down.

To circumvent any slow down by the firewall, keep up on other items to keep the performance and resources high. Items like un-necessary start-up items, temp files, internet temp files, hard drive cleaned up, registry cleaned up.
Clean-up on these items will off set the minor slow down on the firewall.

[Gary D]

I use Comodo firewall now. I use to use Zone Alarm until I did some research (AKA Google: "firewall ratings")

Here is one article from PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1969207,00.asp

Do some research. By the way, I do like the pop-up warnings now as it warns me everytime an .EXE file tries to access the internet through FF or IE7. I have reconfigured a lot of programs from not accessing the internet about my habits.

[drfsupercenter]

I heard Zonealarm causes hell for your PC... I have tons of exceptions, like all my IM programs etc... and I need all ports open so I can get files faster. I doubt that would help much in this case.

But would some other firewall help any?

[Furiousg]

I have had experience with ZoneAlarm causing havoc on two different machines, different networks, different symptoms. After that I decided to look into another solution and Comodo suit me well. I tried Sygate for a bit, wasn't too bad. But I vow to never return to ZoneLabs again.

And I made my Mom promise too.

1: Comodo
2: Sygate

[anonymez]

now i have a router i'm thinking of dumping my current firewall (been using an old version of outpost) for something that basically says "yes" or "no" to an app/process that attempts to access the network. i'm thinking zonealarm free, with all security options disabled. zonealarm along with nero are good examples of bloatware, luckily the freeware version is the only one i'd ever consider using, last i checked it was "just" a firewall

Vista's firewall has greatly improved on XP's feeble attempt, btw. still nothing compared to other offerings.

[anonymez]

i'm thinking of dumping my current firewall (been using an old version of outpost) for something that basically says "yes" or "no" to an app/process that attempts to access the network

decided to do that, went to download the latest freeware version, unusually large at 38mb. i was thinking anywhere from 4 to 8 mb, no thanks.

[Furiousg]

Do any of you use NOD32?? I installed it last night...custom install is definately option heavy
Anyhow, I really like it so far. Auto updates every hour (checks for update at least) and super quick scans compared to the ol' Norton06 I was running. Highly tunable. Not exactly a firewall option, but related at least.

[techreactor]

Sygate FW with activevirusshield is a good combination for complete protection from virus spams and hackers.

But for ppl who are using routers, you should check if your router is accessible from the Internet on its public IP, if yes, you are giving away your gateway to the hackers. Block access on your public port, if its enabled on your router.

[MikeyBK]

Zonealarm is pretty good guys...I put it on my older 320MB Ram, 533MHz celeron processor, 1998 PC and it hardly caused any spikes in task-manager. I love the control it gives me with every program's inbound/outbound access.

I have since also put it on my main PC and a laptop.

Works fantastically with the free AVG Anti-Virus.