Whats The Best Firewall ?

[MusikBeatz23]

I NEED HELP FINDING A GOOD FIREWALL I AM RUNNING ZONE ALARM PRO RIGHT NOW BUT I WAS WONDERIN' IF THERES A BETTER ONE ???... :fire

[SamJam]

Right now I'm trying out this one called Outpost Firewall (free version). It seems to do its job. It quite different from ZAPro, which is what I'm used to. I downloaded Tiny Personal Firewall, but then realised that it was no longer being updated, so I didn't mess with it.

Sam

[Krell]

This is why Sygate Personal firewall is my choice
http://soho.sygate.com/products/std/whatsnew_std.htm
download:
http://soho.sygate.com/free/default.php#spf

I am not a fan of Zone Alarm, and I would recomend PRO ; )
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/zap_za_grid_results.jsp?radiobutton1=personal&radiobutton2=desktop&checkbox1=yes&checkbox2=yes&checkbox3=yes&checkbox4=yes&checkbox5=yes&checkbox6=yes&checkbox7=yes&checkbox8=yes&image.x=74&image.y=17

a school crossing gaurd
http://blackice.iss.net/update_center/index.php

various
http://www.iopus.com/guides/freefirewalls.htm
http://www.securitypointer.com/basics.htm#intrusion

Test em!
http://scan.sygatetech.com/
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
http://www.securitymetrics.com/portscan.adp

*free* goodies
http://www.firewallguide.com/freeware.htm

THIS is enough to keep you busy and informed. I want to add this . . firewalls are not just about keeping people out of your PC, but about keeping information IN.

DO NOT let your Windows SERVICES or softwares blab blab blab out to the internet. If you are ever in doubt, JUST SAY NO.

If you have any questions after reading the articles in the links, feel free to ask. I did all this homework, you go benefit from it.

.

[stephen_sterritt]

black ice is the best in my opinion

[SamJam]

A lot of good info there...

I'm glad to see that the reviews/tests on Outpost are good.
The reason I choose to switch from ZAPro was because it seemed to slow everything down on my computer. After unistalling some other program trying to find out what was causing it (none that I uninstalled), I found that the problem cleared up after I got rid of ZAPro. I know a lot of people like it, but I guess it just doesn't agree with my set up.

Thanks again,
Sam

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

Originally posted by SamJam
Right now I'm trying out this one called Outpost Firewall (free version). It seems to do its job. It quite different from ZAPro, which is what I'm used to. I downloaded Tiny Personal Firewall, but then realised that it was no longer being updated, so I didn't mess with it.

Sam

thats because the designers who made tiny are making another firewall now. its very similar to tiny, called kerio you can get it here. http://www.kerio.com/us/

o and its still completely free

[overdo]

in the last 6months i have used both ZA (Free and paid versions), BlackICE and Norton Firewall 2002 and 2003. all of these firewalls are equally gd at defending from external threats, all of my ports were stealthed on the tests at grc, Symantec's own test and another few tests i found on google. however they respond to internal threats differently as i have found out.

ZA prompts u each time a new app attempts to connect, but it got annoying for me when i installed new apps all the time. Norton is basically the same, except it automatically configures known programs by doing an application scan, which leads me on to blackice, which only allows applications it has scanned to access the internet. note the blackice scan will not detect trojans, so scan before u get a trojan otherwise it'll still be allowed access by default.

the main thing which influenced my choice was system resouces. ZA gobbled up loads, i still don't know why but it did for me, blackice spent about 45 mins doing an application scan and kept popping up boxes when i tried to install new software. norton i have found to be a small resource hog (about 3%) and i'm using a PC with a P2 chip and 96m RAM. however i can live with norton using this much.

in the end its just personal preference. they all protect all ports from external threats when put into their hightest protection settings, u just gotta see which one u like the look of.(Blackice displays graphs on data sent and received which was very nice)

[maartendc]

I've got norton firewall 2002 and I'm happy with it.. never tried anything else... it does it's job, gets updates etc. I hear a lot of people are using Zone alarm. Is that because it's better? Or because its free?

[dmorgan89]

Norton Personal Firewall 2003. their virus definitions are updated more and they get the new viruses fast plus they tell you how to remove all of them.

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

Originally posted by dmorgan89
Norton Personal Firewall 2003. their virus definitions are updated more and they get the new viruses fast plus they tell you how to remove all of them.

errr....

that would be norton Anti virus, not norton firewall............

norton is very p[retty with lots of flashing lights and nice colors.

[Krell]

Thx SamJam, a lot of good input from everyone so far. This is an example of how partricipation in a thread works.

I am a benchmarker, and it looks like overdo also does a lot of trial and error too. The additional overhead of Zone Alarm and Norton are what steer me away from them. They are both first class mind you, but a smaller foot print for resources and memory is good. Does that outweigh the protection that they offer? Well, not in my opinion. But I dont think you have to trade significant performance for protection.

In my book, effectiveness, ease of use and configuration are key factors. I have found areas where Sygate was better than Norton and ZA, as in closing port 10. I want NO case of windows components talking my business. And . . while were near the subject, guys, NEVER have your real info on your computer, reg it to NEO or Cinderella, but never your REAL NAME. Same with software . . .. unless you want the world to have your name as target practice.

[Wings_of_Azrael]

I swear by Kerio Personal Firewall. There are too many known holes in ZoneAlarm (at least the free version, as far as I know). Sygate simply blocked too much neccessary traffic, both the free and the Pro version. Both of them use up too much system resources. They doubled the time it took to boot, compared to when using Kerio. Kerio also seems to block a lot of crap, according to its log file. I've had someone get into my ZoneAlarm "protected" computer on a dare before. I haven't done much Kerio testing, outside of all those online tests. Sygate Pro has the best features in the world, but I had to disable it or disable many of those features just to get a little functionality. Kerio has kept me safe for the past year though. The only problems have arisen whenever I decided to test other firewalls. They all strengthen my faith in almighty Kerio.

[SamJam]

maartendc

I've got norton firewall 2002 and I'm happy with it.. never tried anything else... it does it's job, gets updates etc. I hear a lot of people are using Zone alarm. Is that because it's better? Or because its free?

Probably because it's one of the better ones (for a lot of people) that you can get for free. I didn't like the Pro version. Come to think of it, I don't think I had any problems with the free version. Hmmmm...

I have the McAfee firewall(came with the antivirus) but never installed it because I already was using ZA. I don't hear many people complimenting it, so I decided against it. Any opinions on McAfee???

I think I'll just stick with Outpost for a while, it's future sounds promising and seems pretty stable. I don't know if I would go as far as recommending it just yet though since I've only been using it a little more than a week.
But if it fails, I'll probably give Sygate a try.

Sam

[PornMaster]

i would have to recommand Norton Internet Security 2003, it's a fire with ad-blocking basicly. it's go some cool features like you can see the location of your attacker, comes with NAV too, it has Spam alert which is good if your using outlook, and it's very easy too use. so go ahead get it! heres the website just incase you wanna see more of what it does: http://www.symantecstore.com/dr/sat/ec_MAIN.Entry10?SP=10023&PN=1&xid=27677&V1=451189&DSP=&CUR=124&PGRP=0&CACHE_ID=55610

[overdo]

Originally posted by Krell
I am a benchmarker, and it looks like overdo also does a lot of trial and error too. The additional overhead of Zone Alarm and Norton are what steer me away from them. They are both first class mind you, but a smaller foot print for resources and memory is good. Does that outweigh the protection that they offer? Well, not in my opinion. But I dont think you have to trade significant performance for protection.

In my book, effectiveness, ease of use and configuration are key factors. I have found areas where Sygate was better than Norton and ZA, as in closing port 10. I want NO case of windows components talking my business. And . . while were near the subject, guys, NEVER have your real info on your computer, reg it to NEO or Cinderella, but never your REAL NAME. Same with software . . .. unless you want the world to have your name as target practice.

Norton 2003 isn't that bloaty surprisingly, well for me anyways. oh and i don't have XP so i hardly have any windows components to worry about, just Qmgr, LoadQM and 1 or two others. should be getting XP soon so i'll be visiting that blackvipers site u keep mentioning krell. and yes ease of use and configuration are very important, i have found BlackIce to be the least configurable, the current version doesn't even have an IM features (ie allow IM file transfer etc)

[Ken17625]

The only McAfee product I use is in fact McAfee Guardian. It does what I need it to do.

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

Originally posted by Krell
. I have found areas where Sygate was better than Norton and ZA, as in closing port 10. I want NO case of windows components talking my business.

that was probably the main thing that steered me away from norton, theyre just too much in bed with MS. i read a few pieces about norton firewall leaving ports open for windows.

Plus the amount of RAM it uses is ridiculous.
I couldnt for the life of me see why norton need to produce a firewall which takes up bags of resources whenother firealls use one half of even a third of the resources norton does. plus it has a download size of 13megs (to kerios 2 megs)

if i was a cynical person i might accuse norton of intentionally bloating their software to make it appear as if the buyer is getting more than he is actually paying for.

[overdo]

the reason that NPF 2003 is so much bigger than the rest is because it includes liveupdate and an adblocker as well. and the firewall can also be configured using its rule based approach to basically block anything u want it to. so they may be in bed with MS but u can still block what u want. also u should disable most of the components u don't need cause if they are trying to call home, they are using system resources,

[grab_grab_the_haddock]

you can configure other firewalls just as much, if not more than norton.
and liveupdate is another waste of space - again its just norton adding bells and whistles to make it look like the customer is getting his moneys worth

the ad blocker and cookie managers are nice features to have but they dont add THAT much of an overhead, and there are other programs that do these jobs just as well as norton.

[Wings_of_Azrael]

Pretty much everything by Symantec consumes too much system resources for what it's supposed to do. I haven't tried Norton Firewall, but after using Norton Anti-Virus 2001, 2002 and 2003 Professional... I've finally found that just because a program is big, bulky, and bloated doesn't neccessarily mean it's the most effective. Programs like Dr.Web, Kerio, Tiny, and others have proven that for me. I've formatted my hard drive recently, and I will never again install another Symantec program on it.

[overdo]

agreed that bloated doesn't necessarily mean better, but considering what a crappy system i'm running it on (pm me if u want the details, i don't want to embaress myself here) it works very well. i'm running NPF2003, NAV 2002, Msn messenger, k++, autosearchmore, 6 IE windows and GoogleCompute (standard mode) with over 70% system resources still available. the only think i find bloated about symantec products is when u try and open them from the taskbar with a lot running.

oh and i'm a not a newbie to firewalls using the one preinstalled by the manufacturer. i have tried most firewalls so i'm not just saying this cause i wanna disagree with every1.

[hawkburn]

Zone Alarm Pro in my opinion has been the best. I have tried others, Black ICE, McAfee, and Norton. Norton and McAfee slowed my DSL connection to dialup speeds and Black ICE didnt let my programs have access. Then I found Zone Alarm. Access to which ports I wanted, and no access to the ones i didnt want. I can use any program, and no intrusions in 1 1/2 years. Works for me.

[Wings_of_Azrael]

The biggest problem for me was definetly opening Norton Anti-Virus from the taskbar. Even after upgrading my RAM to 384, it was still horrendously slow to open. Also, NAV 2001 was my first anti-virus program. I didn't know my computer could start up so much faster without it. I went from 70% to 85% free system resources after I got rid of ZoneAlarm and NAV in favor of Kerio and AVG about a year ago when I had 128 MB of RAM. Of course, the main thing with these security programs is to use whatever you feel safe with. A few years ago, I ran my computer without any anti-virus or firewall and used programs like Napster, Audiogalaxy, Gnutella (original), but I never got hacked once. I only started using them after getting spooked by things I read and heard about viruses, trojans, and malevolent hackers. Since then, I do think my firewall has kept me relatively safe. However, since using Norton with updated signatures, I did get a virus that forced me reformat my hard drive. So, I really think that when the reaper comes, there's nothing you can do about it. I apply that to everything.

[Ghost 23]

Hell yeah Krell, great info, thanks... I personally use Kerio right now and it ok, it leave a lot to be desired. I liked zonealarm pro alot and it very user friendy as well and the log that it keep are very good as well.

[maartendc]

Originally posted by Wings_of_Azrael
The biggest problem for me was definetly opening Norton Anti-Virus from the taskbar. Even after upgrading my RAM to 384, it was still horrendously slow to open. Also, NAV 2001 was my first anti-virus program. I didn't know my computer could start up so much faster without it. I went from 70% to 85% free system resources after I got rid of ZoneAlarm and NAV in favor of Kerio and AVG about a year ago when I had 128 MB of RAM. Of course, the main thing with these security programs is to use whatever you feel safe with. A few years ago, I ran my computer without any anti-virus or firewall and used programs like Napster, Audiogalaxy, Gnutella (original), but I never got hacked once. I only started using them after getting spooked by things I read and heard about viruses, trojans, and malevolent hackers. Since then, I do think my firewall has kept me relatively safe. However, since using Norton with updated signatures, I did get a virus that forced me reformat my hard drive. So, I really think that when the reaper comes, there's nothing you can do about it. I apply that to everything.

Hey I agree to that taskbar thing: I've got 512 mb ddram en 2.26ghz of power, and that nav2002 opens damn slow from the taskbar!

[overdo]

Originally posted by Wings_of_Azrael
Of course, the main thing with these security programs is to use whatever you feel safe with.... So, I really think that when the reaper comes, there's nothing you can do about it. I apply that to everything.

u've summarized the whole point of this thread. it doesn't matter what firewall,AV product u use. if u've tested it and like it, then f*** what every1 else says and keep it.

[Krell]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Wings_of_Azrael
Of course, the main thing with these security programs is to use whatever you feel safe with.... So, I really think that when the reaper comes, there's nothing you can do about it. I apply that to everything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



"u've summarized the whole point of this thread. it doesn't matter what firewall,AV product u use. if u've tested it and like it, then f*** what every1 else says and keep it."



Cool then, Im going to publish a firewall, call it " Warm 'n Cuddly". It wont really DO anything, but you will feel good about it, and its will be VERY low on resources.

[Munchables]

I am with krell sygate is tops it is just amazing. And it is free!! well even though you would probably just dl it form kazaa.


if you wan't a firewall go for sygate.

[Tremaine]

zonealarm pro id have to say its the best i havent used anything else and no problems so far. norton is good for ativirus but is very resource full so id the firewall is prob the same.

[Wings_of_Azrael]

Cool then, Im going to publish a firewall, call it " Warm 'n Cuddly". It wont really DO anything, but you will feel good about it, and its will be VERY low on resources.

Who said Kerio did nothing? It's adequate for basic firewall functions. If I want cookie manager, I'll go for Cookie Wall. If I want an ad blocker, I'll go for Proxomitron. I'd rather have multiple small programs than one big one that's less flexible and causes long start-ups and blocks wanted traffic.

[Krell]

Dont out words in my mouth, I said Warm N Cuddly wouldnt.

In fact, the rest of what you just said is the SAME thing I have been preaching all along.

The exception to that is the Ontrack System Suites. And I am not promoting that as a firewall alternative either.

My comment was reflecting that you cant have the BEST of both worlds, the more you have running in the background, the more impact it has. You cant get "safe" and "performance" without some compromise. Do you think I went on a drinking binge today?

[MusikBeatz23]

thanks for the help i tried out all the test running ZAPRO and it only failed one part out of all of them now im gonna go try out syaget i hope it works perfect plus i dont give a F*** about resources as long as it protects you... you have nothing to B**** about!!!

[Wings_of_Azrael]

Do you think I went on a drinking binge today?

Quite possibly... ;)

[TwoZigzagColt45]

Sygate

[overdo]

My comment was reflecting that you cant have the BEST of both worlds, the more you have running in the background, the more impact it has. You cant get "safe" and "performance" without some compromise.


i agree with u there, ppl who want performance have to make a compromise somewhere, and vice versa. ppl just find an acceptable mid-point for themselves, which due to human nature is most likely to be different from many other ppl's view of "acceptable"

[«°¤§téålth§t®îk餰»]

Originally posted by MusikBeatz23
I NEED HELP FINDING A GOOD FIREWALL I AM RUNNING ZONE ALARM PRO RIGHT NOW BUT I WAS WONDERIN' IF THERES A BETTER ONE ???... :fire

Just stick with Zone Alarm Pro, it's the best out there [in my opinion] for personal firewalls.

[Wings_of_Azrael]

Hey «°¤§téålth§t®îk餰», what is the name of the anime character in your profile and signature?

[MusikBeatz23]

Im using Sygate Personal Firewall Pro from now on didnt fail any test light on resources i think ???... but who cares it gets the job done withought you having to be worried about anything... also in my opinion ZAPRO is second best you should try both out see which one works better for you but ZAPRO has a slight hole... but Sygate came outt 100% effective so both are good.... :fire

[overdo]

a slight hole??? its a giant hole if ur a hacker.

Link (http://www.wilders.org/HTMLobj-1073/firewall vulnerability.txt)

[twuckDrifer]

IMHO,Norton internet security is the total package. I gladly spent money for it.

[MusikBeatz23]

Originally posted by overdo
a slight hole??? its a giant hole if ur a hacker.

Link (http://www.wilders.org/HTMLobj-1073/firewall vulnerability.txt)
Becareful and pleas read the link overdo posted very important... i think thats the only reason i changed 2 syagate pro cause of that hole ZAPro has... :fire

[CCSDUDE]

Originally posted by Wings_of_Azrael
Hey «°¤§téålth§t®îk餰», what is the name of the anime character in your profile and signature?

I don't recall her name but SS hooked me up with where he got the WP that he used for both sig an avatar.

http://www.wallpapershq.com/cat.php?cat=jeux

War Of Gensis 3 is what shes from.

Later

[nasrules]

i use zapro. works great. did use norton but its such a resource hog!!!

[1JOESKY]

:cross: Sygate Pro!!!! Try It and U will Stay.

[AYE-WHY]

Im using a Linux 386 PC as a firewall muahahaha, try and get round that and hack my XP system!!!!

On a serious note, I would never install a firewall "software" because I don't trust them - scripts can be written to confuse them too easily and how do you know that you were'nt already infected with a load of shit before u even installed the firewall u have now?

I've been using an old 386 pc, installed 2 network cards in to it and my cable modem goes directly to, it IS a hardware router and it even logs every connection coming in and out of the computers who are connected to it for a net connection! It is a lot more powerful and configurable compared to a software firewall which chomps away at ur system resources! hell the 386 only cost my £10 HAHA (WITH a b&w crusty monitor)

Tis a beauty i tellsya

[nasrules]

i think thats a norton thing, when i tried to open it from the taskbar it would take ages...384ram and a p3 1ghz, even without nething else running. i dumped it a while ago in favour of avg pro, which i like. its only downside is the fact that it doesnt automatically fix the infected files when it finds them.

[zpmomo]

My Norton just won't launch from the Taskbar.
I'll show you nonresponsive clunkiness.

[phalkon30]

Norton does that to me to

Some programs in an attempt to save ram ussage, will only load to the ram when called upon, so when sitting "idle" in your taskbar, they don't hog ram, but when you need them, they have to load a large portion of the program to the ram, which can be a slow switch

[endersgame21]

I haven't had a problem at all with Norton Antivirus. I have 1 gig of Ram though. But it seems to work fine for me.

[Galilleo]

Oupost is good.
Sygate is "ok" but is less capable.

You can see a comparison of all the major firewalls here: http://agnitum.com/php_scripts/compare.php

Previous versions of Sygate had many loopholes.
e.g. "LeakTest v1.0 showed the Sygate Personal Firewall to be one of the "leakiest" outbound-blocking personal firewalls in the industry. It failed every one of LeakTest's tests. Sygate issued a formal reply saying that their next firewall would fix these things."
The newest version has addressed some of it.

-Outpost has well-developed features for blocking active content.

-SYGATE has NO capabilities for blocking so-called 'Active Content' at all.

-For example, javascripts, active X, ads, etc, outpost can do that, Sygate can't.

-Sygate's logging is ok, but Outpost goes further and shows the history Categorized! and current connections are in blue. which is nice. Very easy to spot.

-The rule creation section in Outpost has a feature where you can enter the DOMAIN NAME to block, and it will look up all the IP's for it, SYGATE doesn't have it, you can't enter a DOMAIN NAME, you have to go look up the numeric IP manually yourself and type it in. This became readily apparent when in my own testing I entered a domain of an infamous spyware site and a p2p enemy domain into Outpost and outpost immediately did a lookup and found multiple alias IP's for both sites which it immediately blocked. Sygate does not have this lookup feature, so typically you'd do a whois lookup and enter the IP that is returned from WHOIS. However the whois for sygate found none of these alias IP's allowing traffic from this organization through its aliases to pass unhindered.

-Sygate cannot block using a domain name in the rule entry, Outpost can.

-Outpost can block a port automatically as well as an IP, Sygate can only go by IP.

-Sygate's application area is not-resizable. This offers less flexibility and results in tedious scrolling back and forth. Outpost has it all laid out into a resizable window, with categories on the left, and sortable columns which are also resizable.
(EDIT: Sygate just fixed this on the MAIN window on their latest version, however several log and settings windows in the program are still non-resizable.)

-Outpost has something unique that is not in Sygate, and that is the ability to host PLUGINS. These add even more capabilities to the program. For instance, superstealth, whois, http logging, and others.

-Sygate does have a nice little EKG style graph in it, and a backtrace facility. However outpost has backtrace via a nice plugin.

-OUTPOST has a better RULES generating facility. Much easier. Sygate can accomplish the same function, but with a little more typing.

-For instance, In outpost, you can simply type to block the IP: 10.10.10.* and it will block that entire range.

-SYGATE does not use wildcards (*'s). You can accomplish the same function in Sygate but in SYGATE you must enter a RANGE: like 10.10.10.1-10.10.10.255

-Outpost has Attack detection and DOS detection. Sygate does not.

-Outpost has plugins that automatically trigger if known spyware and adware attempt to produce activity on your computer. Sygate does not have this.

-Outpost has a free edition. (And a pro edition) Sygate is not Free.

Others:
BlackIce = Forget this one. Just go see here: http://ww.grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm

Conseal Firewall = It's old, not a contender anymore.

ZeroKnowledge Freedom = Poor product support

XP ICF = too simplistic

ZoneAlarm = ZoneAlarm uses a technology called TruVector which is known to cause incompatibilities and crashes in several applications, including p2p apps. Zonealarm's interface is somewhat newb-ish, like a little web page, with little diagrams with pc's and arrows pointing to LANS, however when you click on the fancy icons and diagrams they have there for who knows what reason, they perform no function whatsoever.
You cannot make any advanced rules in ZoneAlarm. And ZoneAlarm's logging is terrible.

NPF - Norton Personal Firewall = This would be the only other one out of the above that would be a slight contender to Outpost and/or sygate. It has no glaring leaks, however, NPF is actually based on a former application called AtGuard that Symantec Bought, and modified and then renamed it Norton Personal Firewall. Early versions allowed a malicious app to assume the process name of an allowed app, and it would let it through. It has since been fixed. And gets better ratings now.

[Monyak]

Galileo is the "G" Man!

[elperro91]

I've been using Outpost for the past couple months and I definitely recommend it....open source, can use plugins, and the free version seems fully loaded....I recommend this one!

[overdo]

Originally posted by Monyak
This is some info that I think maybe of interest to you. I didnt write this post, actually somebody PM'd me the info because they didnt want to answer you directly, but asked me to post it in my name as if I wrote it. I cant take credit for research that isnt mine, so I give credit to his first initial, the "G" man!

http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_99949.htm

Virus/Worm Name: W32/Lirva.a

It spreads over Kazaa.
It tries to terminate security software, including ZONEALARM.EXE
It kills the Zonealarm program. (McAfee too by the way)

The worm contains a password-stealer, and sends your account info out on the internet.

The worm arrives via email, is sent to IRC or ICQ users, and may propagate via KaZaa.

Once infected, VirusScan may not be able to run as the virus can terminate the process before any scanning/removal is accomplished.

and here:
http://uk.gsmbox.com/news/mobile_news/all/63077.gsmbox
http://bsdvault.net/article.php?sid=363

Here is code to actually do it:
http://www.packetstormsecurity.com/0109-exploits/km.pl

--
http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cach...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


look i didn't say viruses on kazaa don't exist, or that they can't shut down antivirus programs. i said "i'd like to see one" in reference to ur quote that they are distributed in avis, mp3s and pictures. just so u know this virus is only distributed in .exe files:

The attachment uses one of the following names:
AvrilLavigne.exe
AvrilSmiles.exe
CERT-Vuln-Info.exe
Cogito_Ergo_Sum.exe
Complicated.exe
Download.exe
IAmWiThYoU.exe
MSO-Patch-0035.exe
MSO-Patch-0071.exe
Readme.exe
Resume.exe
Singles.exe
Sk8erBoi.exe
Sophos.exe
Transcripts.exe
Two-Up-Secretly.exe
Phantom.exe

[Korn377135678]

Outpost sounds like agood firewall,i will have to try this.I have been useing Sygate personal firewall.

[Rickio]

Outpost is worth checking out. I have recommended it since it first came out.
It doesn't get as much praise as many others as it is relatively new.

peace

[x71us]

Sygate lacks network identification. It may or may not work with a dsl line. Sometimes it will just shut off an application. It has no other protection for mail ads etc but then it doesn't advertise that it does. On the whole I love it It just won't work for me. Zone Alarm is a resource hog . When I use it I feel like a target There are attacks on every port out htere but it will work with a dsl line. Norton can be controlled re windows services if you want to. There are a lot less attacks than with ZA. Why I don't know. Both ZA & Norton will easily identify your network & connect easily if you have a dsl line. If all the other utilities are Norton I think Norton works great. Any one tries Visnetic or Surf Secret. I never tried Kerio or Outpost but will they identify a dsl network ?

[el_omega]

Well, for firewall I have Sygate Personal Firewall Pro v5.0 and I like it so much. I have passed all the tests and the results on my ports were STATUS STEALTH , so I feel happy with it.
I also use Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition Client version I like it. It takes less resource than NAV but we are just talking about firewalls. I once used Zone Alarm and did not like it too much.

[Monyak]

Thanks for the info on OUTPOST. Problem with Firewalls is that as I said earlier in a different post:

"A safe doesnt sell SECURITY, rather it sells TIME, the question is how much time!"

I am not afraid of hackers because I know how to protect myself, I am more afraid of the trojan. Cause then I make it a personal thing to find and fuck the person. Seems like you really cant trust any program today that you download.

Years ago, before P2P and the Napster revolution, it was fun to fuck around with trojans for experience, but today, since everything is already out there and you dont have to pay for the programs, trojans are for lamers who are bored.

The "wanna be a hacker" binds his trojan into any program he thinks is popular which in turns sends him either a email or ICQ. Some Wanna Bes even re-compile to their trojan into a SETUP program so that the VIRII doesnt automatically alert you on the download.

The reason is because the header and footer of the original trojan/virii has been changed when the person re-compiles it in a setup compiler.

One thing the NEWBIE WANNA BE A TROJAN makers dont realize is that trojans sent to a ICQ account or Email account can be in fact tracked back to him. If the attacked can find the email account or ICQ account to where the trojan is sent he can find out easily who is his attacker. Anybody can get a users IP number who uses ICQ (if they are online) and other info about an email account.

People who are a bit smarter hang out on IRC channels and have the info sent there. But WTF, are they bored in life or what!!!!

Unless of course they pack trojan into Wallstreet and are making loads of money from inside information, they are basically all a bunch of lamers with nothing better to do in their lives!

PeAcE

[Galilleo]

overdo:

Here is your info:

1. A malicious user digitizes (rips) a song. He saves it in .rm format. Either that, or .asf or .wma format.

2. Using the Microsoft Windows Media Advanced Script Indexer, one can embed URLs into media files, including WMA files. The malicious user, uses the Advanced Script Indexer to insert and edit scripts within that Windows Media file which will launch a URL as soon as the file is played.

3. The malicious user creates a website. That website contains virus code, such as NIMDA, which can infect by the mere browsing of the page. Nothing has to be executed, as far as an attachment, or .exe file goes. There are viruses that can infect simply by viewing a url.

4. The malicious user then RENAMES the .wma file to something like: Limp Bizkit - Nookie - (Live in Australia!).mp3 or Spiderman (Full Version - High Quality).mpeg or DragonballZ - Rare Episode.avi

These now appear just like .mp3 files, .mpg files, and .avi files. Not only that, but they are also the correct size, several megs for an mp3, and can be hundreds of megs for an mpeg or avi, and not only that, it will actually play the song, and show the movie.

Now, what happens is this....

User searches on a p2p program. Search hits on the name, that file comes up in their search results. It's the right size for an mp3 file, the name is ok, no double extension, it even has a bitrate quality level, everything will look normal. It can be ANY song name, any mp3, maybe the next one YOU download and play.

The .mp3 file downloads. User thinks it's safe. Double clicks on it. --Now normally, if you renamed a .exe file to .com or you renamed a .pdf file to .xls that's NOT gonna open correctly, but guess what... When you click on that .mp3 file, it is a valid extension for Windows Media Player, so Windows Media Player will LAUNCH! Not only that, but you'd think it would know that it's actually a .wma inside, but it won't say ANYTHING. It will PLAY IT! And guess what... It can be the actual song that is reflected in the name of the file too, so it even PLAYS!

So at this point, you see a .mp3 file, it's named right, size in Kbytes looks just fine, you download it, you click on it, it even PLAYS the song you expected! But guess what....

The embedded script data inside the .mp3 file just activated, and it took you to a URL and it just infected you! You now have a virus.

And it can be a 3 meg or an 800meg file that infected you.

In addition, this script data, can also exploit a bug which allows execution of malicious code within the player.

(By the way, this affected Realplayer too, in addition to Windows Media Player. And WINAMP has problems as well.)



Ok, now, since you're always asking for proof, here are some references so that you can go check this out for yourself and see:

This is Microsoft's Security Bulletin on the issue. Note that it affects nearly ALL versions of WMP from 6.4 up to XP. excluding 9. This is not little BOOTY BUTTHEIMER's plinky website, this is official Microsoft here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...in/MS01-056.asp

CNN Article on the problem:
http://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/co...r.security.idg/

Here is PCWORLD's Critical Flaw Article:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,72604,00.asp

This is RealNetworks Security Alert Bulletin on the problem:
http://service.real.com/help/faq/se...feroverrun.html


This site refers to the fact that there is absolutely no such thing as a "safe" extension anymore, contrary to BOOTIE McFRUITY:
http://cert.uni-stuttgart.de/archiv...3/msg00038.html

BUGTRAQ Article on the media file extension problem:
http://cert.uni-stuttgart.de/archiv...3/msg00020.html

BERKELEY Article on Streaming Media vulnerabilities:
http://www.lisarein.com/mediaplayerlinks.html

SECURITYFOCUS Warning:
http://online.securityfocus.com/news/338
"A quirk in media players from Microsoft and RealNetworks could enable attackers to hijack Web browsers and run scripts on the computers of some MP3 music fans.
The trick has apparently been discovered by pornography sites and spammers, which have been seeding some music file trading services with bogus MP3 music files. "

(continue this subject in that other thread instead. posting there from now onward...)

[Monyak]

Dont anybody be stupid and click on to whatever links Mr. Galileo has supplied here. He is notorious for giving links that open ports so that he can hack you.

[Galilleo]

Huh? wtf are you talking about?

[snowborder74]

i personally find that those thousand dollar rack deals work best lol, my next under 100$ fav is a router with NAT, if you purchase your firewall a router w/ NAT will cost about as much as some firewall apps and has connections for more than one thing that uses internet (highspeed), then comes application firewalls, WinXPs swiss cheesy firewall lands last with the sappiest security. But i also know if somebody wants to hack you their gonna do it no matter what your running, it just is harder depending on how many and which ones you run

[Dior]

Does having mutiple software firewalls cause conflits?

[Krell]

It can.

It can also be a real drain on your performance, and for what?

I have never found any advantage of having more than one firewall at a time, and if you have a decent one, you dont need any others.

I posted a link to the PC Mag Firewall reviews, you might check it out.

[crackerjacker]

Right now, I will have to recommend at least 2 or 3 different firewalls.
The first one I will recommend is Norton personal firewall, because I have been using it for along time. I have the version *2001* it also comes with norton antivirus as well.

Norton, will allow you to set up rules, for each program, that accesses the internet. It also, allows you to disable active x components, java script, based on your personal preferences.I know that you can disable it from the web browser that you use, but norton makes it more easier to do.

It can also block, ip addresses. For example, say if I want to block a certain website. All I have to do, in norton, is put the web address, in the settings, and give it the proper permissions.


Norton has a pletora, of good features.

I will also recommend, this other firewall, called sygate, personal firewall, its free. I like it, because, Its not a memory hog. I can set up permissions, on what programs, can access the net. I havent tested it out to much, but I can confirm to you that, it is pretty good. Its got a lot of features.

I dont recommend zone alarm, if your running windows 98. That is the os, system I am currently running. But for some reason, zone alarm, will take total control of your net settings. I didnt like it, it crashed my computer. Hmm, one time, I even unistalled zone alarm, cuz I hated it. Yeah, I hate it. After I uninstalled zone alarm, It deleted my winsock.dll library link files, and I couldnt access the internet. It screwed up my network. Now I am sure it works for some people, but I feel, that if you do use, it, do not unistall, it. Because, if you uninstall, it you are going to have to format your harddrive.

This happen to me. Now everyones experience is different, but I think zone alarm, is not a good choice.

Sygate, is more superior, as well, plenty of features for a free product and its not evil, and its free, also, on a side note, avg, antivirus is pretty good to. Its a free antivirus program, I run it along side, sygate personal firewall.

All in all, these choices, are good if you are looking for a sleek firewall, choose, norton, or choose the free version of sygate.

rtws*

[BloodStraw]

outpost is my favourite..sygate is pretty good as well

[Versacity]

Multiple firewalls are not advised. They take up resources and can cause virtual conflicts whereas your left hand doesnt know whats happening with the right hand

[Azo-999]

Originally posted by Versacity
Multiple firewalls are not advised. They take up resources and can cause virtual conflicts whereas your left hand doesnt know whats happening with the right hand

Agree for that - I use sygate's pro as only FW, BUT :

it's always good to have other programs as adding more security as "ProtectX Professional Edition" which takes very fast care of all port-scan attempts, programs adding themselves to registry / run-section, Closes ports for a particular time if an attack is concidered bad, disconnects the whole traffic if configured so. Its very flexible.
find trial at :
http://www.plasmateksoftware.com/protectx.htm (quite an old one, but does it's job better than many others...)

AdsGone I use for the rest : it's best of the add/pop-up blockers that I have tried (beats Pop-Up Stopper Companion etc), and it integrates with all browsers, even with messenger and stops error-messages and install-on-demands if needed ...
(do you want to run and install.. always trust Gator & co...)
And it's flexible to configure and it's hosts and db is upgraded about twice a week...
More : it's between the incoming http/ftp and the apps, so it catches all faster without lowering the speed. (maybe 0.2 %)...

Just Try it from :
http://www.adsgone.com/download.asp (21 day trial)

:sw :sw :sw

[lion7718]

I use & like ZoneAlarm Plus...it's like old 2.6 Pro, just a Firewall with no extras.
I also have Sygate Pro installed & keep it updated as well.
I got it when ZA 3.7 came out, I think it's buggy, went back to ZA 3.1.
Sygate is more advanced than ZA, once it is setup it works fine.
The only things I don't like about Sygate is you can't turn the logging off (yet) & when you give access to a program, it gives it server access by default.

[Azo-999]

Originally posted by lion7718
The only things I don't like about Sygate is you can't turn the logging off (yet) & when you give access to a program, it gives it server access by default.

Yes and the minumum log size is 64 KB, thats hell of a too lot, just slowing down the traffic a little.

Basicly I have had help from the log files every now and then, for bactracing etc but still, it's too much.

The keeping days can accept values from 1 days up....

My app. ver. is Pro 5.0 build 1175s, Profile Format 3.0.5...and are the latest if I believe the auto-update buttons....

Hoping for the next release soon - Idon't like either the Server-Access asserting (and the log-sizes)

I have tried many versions of ZAPRO, but have not been happy with any of them - Did U say that you can run them in parallel without conflicts ? (must slow down traffic, if so...)

Peace - Azo

:sw :sw :sw

[lion7718]

Originally posted by Azo-999
Did U say that you can run them in parallel without conflicts ? (must slow down traffic, if so...)

No, I don't run them together, I just have them both installed...sometimes I switch off ZA & run Sygate.

[Krell]

The only things I don't like about Sygate is you can't turn the logging off (yet) & when you give access to a program, it gives it server access by default.

No, I don't run them together, I just have them both installed...sometimes I switch off ZA & run Sygate.



lion7718

I like your answers, they're simple and concise, not overbloated.

[sipes]

thats not quite true

[overdo]

it would help if u said what isn't true.

[SuperSaiaya Ranger2]

Yeah, what do you mean? The guy up above?
yeah he seems sketchy

[The Hunter]

Originally posted by SuperSaiaya Ranger2
Yeah, what do you mean? The guy up above?
yeah he seems sketchy
He sure is, as it is you. So give it up.

[Evil_Dweller_01]

Don't tell me it's that spammer again that's using two names and answering threads with stupidity and cluelessness.

Is it?

[Azo-999]

Originally posted by Krell
[B]lion7718 - I like your answers, they're simple and concise, not overbloated.

Krell : Did U mean that my answers are complex, unconcise and overboated ? ;-)
( - because they really can be that !!! - Pardon myn finiiis-englaind - )

And The "Sipes the Banned" said to "Lion" : "thats not quite true"

And All asked : "what weren't...."

And The Hunder said : "Let it be..."

And I say : Let's stay at business - too much dummy mails for one 2-named dummy "Sipes" ;-)

The truth is out there : There is not "The Best Firewall",
There's only Good firewalls and different people trying to :

A) Mess them up ("I hate manuals"-people, etc...)
B) Make them workin well...
C) B+Knowing exactly what they're doing

Choice C) is the best choice for a firewall, no matter what it's name is !!!

Peace (and Harmony)

An old saying :
There are no ugly people in the world, there are only beautiful and less beautiful ones....

:sw :sw :sw

[lion7718]

Originally posted by Krell
lion7718

I like your answers, they're simple and concise, not overbloated.

Thanks Krell

[Versacity]

This is getting confusing.lol!

[Azo-999]

Originally posted by Versacity
This is getting confusing.lol!

Yes it is - where's the original FireWall answers / comments. We now only seem to thank each others or vice versa...

Best Firewall :
1. Sygate Corporate FW Pro
2. Sygate Personal FW Pro
3. Zone Alarm Pro
4. Sygate FW Lite
5. Norton Internet Security (NIS) / Norton Personal Firewall
6. You name it
7. You configure it
8. You feel free, get no intruders, port-attacs, spams, pings, echos, telnets, fingers, ftp-attacs, http-worms etc....
if 8 is true and no popups from FW, then it's good configured !

Peace !

:sw :sw :sw