Chester™ Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Some help needed here guys. I currently have McAfee's Firewall which does a fairly decent job. My subscription is running out soon and I dont want to pay for it (nor use dodgy links!). Ive also noticed that the odd virus is sneaking through but is luckily being caught by my AVG Anti-Virus. What would be the best free firewall to get? Ive heard a lot of good things about ZoneAlarm but im open to suggestions as to what would be the best to get. Cheers in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Some help needed here guys. I currently have McAfee's Firewall which does a fairly decent job. My subscription is running out soon and I dont want to pay for it (nor use dodgy links!). Ive also noticed that the odd virus is sneaking through but is luckily being caught by my AVG Anti-Virus. What would be the best free firewall to get? Ive heard a lot of good things about ZoneAlarm but im open to suggestions as to what would be the best to get. Cheers in advance Depends what you need it for. If you just want basic protection, the Windows Firewall does a perfectly good job (assuming you have XP/Vista). If you need to do anything more complicated (eg establish at DMZ) there are several good free alternatives, of which ZoneAlarm is definitely one. Whatever you do, don't pay for McAffee. Also, firewalls do not necessarily block viruses. They're only one part of your defence, which includes AVG (keep it up to date!), Windows Updates and not downloading or opening files that you're not 100% sure are clean. And I mean 100%! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester™ Posted September 10, 2008 Author Share Posted September 10, 2008 Depends what you need it for. If you just want basic protection, the Windows Firewall does a perfectly good job (assuming you have XP/Vista). If you need to do anything more complicated (eg establish at DMZ) there are several good free alternatives, of which ZoneAlarm is definitely one. Whatever you do, don't pay for McAffee. Also, firewalls do not necessarily block viruses. They're only one part of your defence, which includes AVG (keep it up to date!), Windows Updates and not downloading or opening files that you're not 100% sure are clean. And I mean 100%! Cheers. I would like slightly better than basic protection just in case. Ive no idea what a DMZ is im afraid. The reason I mentioned blocking viruses is that they appeared when I was on the net. I suppose they can still be downloaded using spyware etc but its not really been an issue until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyrJambo Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 For a free software firewall you can't beat Comodo. A lot of ISP's are now bundling wireless routers when you sign up and these will generally have hardware firewalling built in. AVG ( the free version ) is good but keep it up to date and avoid being fooled into "upgrading" to their pay version without realising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester™ Posted September 10, 2008 Author Share Posted September 10, 2008 Im not daft enough to buy something like that no matter how hard they try to get me! Cheers for the advice. I think it will be either ZA or Comodo. Both were recommended to me on another forum as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedbump Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Comodo for speedy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GhostHunter Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Chances are, your Router has a firewall as well.... A firewall is critical these days, particularly if you have a high-speed connection (such as DSL, cable, etc.). A software firewall is a minimum requirement, a hardware firewall is much better, and a combination of both a software and hardware firewalls is best. Having more than one software firewall, however, will not offer any additional protection, and will usually create problems. Hardware-type firewalls are available from companies such as SMC, Linksys, Netgear, and others. Free software firewalls are available from Microsoft (included with Windows XP), Kerio, Sygate, Zone Alarm, and others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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