Which firewall do you reccomend (Win XP)?

Question

I've used Zone Alarm and it's doing my head in, and now the service keeps stopping itself. I'm looking for a low maintenance one without keep asking for my input on what to block/unblock. I could do with one that doesn't eat up my system resources too!

Answer 1

Trend-Micro - PC Cillin - Best Internet security suite (As per zdnet, cnet & download.com)

Answer 2

Any good firewall will ask what you want to allow or block!

Of course if you never ever visit a site that could possibly contain spyware or viruses and you of course have good anti-virus and anti-spyware installed (just in case), you could disable the program connections' verification.

To do so with ZoneAlarm, go to the Program Control tab on the left, then move the program control slider to Off.

As you've noticed I discourage this approach. The best approach is to check each one once as they are reported, and make the decision final by checking the remember selection (or similar phrasing depending on software).

To check a program you need to...
- start by using your HEAD: did you just start a program called Nero before ZoneAlarm asked about a Neroblabla.exe?
- do a google or yahoo search with the exact name reported by the firewall and take a look at the results; are people saying this is spyware or are they saying it's a good thing, etc
- sometimes when in doubt and you suspect the risk to be fairly low you may accept it for once (no remember setting option)
- on the other hand, if it looks a bit suspicious you can block it for once, then you try everything and see if it seemed like a good choice. If not, simply restart the computer and choose to accept it next time.

Answer 3

Some Firewalls has an option to be in silent mode so it wont annoy you every few minutes. check the settings to see if zone alarm has this.
Norton does this but that's a resource hog.
My preference in firewall is Kerio

Here is a list of FREE Firewalls fr you to check out

Answer 4

Hey there,
If you want to clean your pc and make it faster and more secure use Ccleaner. It's free and ot works like a charm. Download it from here http://bit.ly/UrAoxf
It's a good free solution.
Best

Answer 5

I personaly use Zone Alarm Pro. I used to use Norton but found it too heavy on resoursces and some of its features were pretty apalling considering the reputation of the company.

Answer 6

I use norton anti virus on my pc and the norton firewall too. They are probably the best ones. If you were on BT broadband with some of the packages you get norton firewall and norton anti virus included and there are regular updates.

Answer 7

I use zone alarm and no problems.Try avg they do anti virus/firewall package.Don't use windows firewall,its rubbish.

Answer 8

You must be doing something wrong then. I've had Zone Alarm for 2 years now and NEVER had any trouble with it!

Answer 9

McAfee. My built in XP firewall has been breached so many times by random hacks... I don't visit risky sites, don't download, but I leave my PC connected 24/7 to my Comcast ISP and I have had random hacks get through. Got McAffe and I see them knocking, but they can't get in.

Answer 10

nicely i desire zone alarm over abode windows ,because of the fact in zone alarm you are able to enable particular web content , I even have abode windows one care stay now and with it and sp2 alot of your courses won't even artwork anymore , because of the fact of all thier risk-free practices , yet whilst vista comes out it quite is going to be even worse ,so i could stay with zone alarm as long as microsoft enables you to , i heard that they are actually not going to allow something yet microsoft with vista, to attempt to place all the different distributors out of organization