Hi, there,

What do you, guys, think about Windows XP's built firewall? Is it reliable? Is it good enough?

Regards,

Windows Firewall is okay but it only provides inbound protection. It is recommended you have a firewall with outbound protection. There are plenty of free firewalls that provide this

Those firewalls are located here...

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic3616.html

I agree with Teenage Zombie's comment and I would recommend Comodo or Zone Alarm because they tend to have the most features for a free firewall program. Also with these two you don't have to register after thirty days to continue using the free edition and they have several customizable options/features as well. I currently use Comodo in conjuction with AVG Antivirus (Free edition) and it works great---doesn't bog down your CPU when running in the background either!

Hi, Rittnasty,

Thank you for your answer. Yeah, I used to have ZoneAlarm installed. However, since I changed from AVG Free Edition Anti-Virus to Kaspersky Anti-Virus, I had to uninstall it, for Kaspersky can't run along with ZoneAlarm. Do you know if Comodo has the same problem interacting with Kaspersky?

Thanks,

Kike...I have heard about some issues with compatability between Comodo and Kaspersky. Specifically, I have read that some people say that Comodo kept recognizing Kaspersky as an invader. But if you add Kaspersky to Comodo's safe zone and vice versa then they both should allow the other to run without interference. The only thing that you need to be careful about with Comodo is how high you set the security settings in your preferences...you can pick and choose what you want Comodo to monitor, so it really isn't that big of a problem. Btw, I am using the free edition of Comodo, so I don't know what the full version includes and if it runs any differently.

Thanks for the advice, Ritt. Well, it seems that our friend Kaspersky is a little bit of exclusivist, huh?

Best regards,

Glad to help, have a great day!

The Windows XP firewall protects against port scanning but has limitations and it is no replacement for a robust 3rd-party two-way personal firewall.

• The XP firewall is not a full featured firewall. Normal firewalls allow you to specifically control each TCP and UDP port but XP’s firewall does not provide you with this capability. Instead, it takes a point and click approach to enabling or disabling a few common ports.
• The XP firewall does a good job of monitoring, examining and blocking inbound traffic but makes no attempt to filter or block outbound traffic like most 3rd-party personal firewalls.
• Thus, the XP firewall does not identify which programs attempt to initiate outbound network or Internet communications nor does it block the traffic when suspicious activity occurs.
  • This feature can be helpful in preventing many types of malware attacks that may attempt to open ports or communicate with outside servers without the user's knowledge or consent. It also means that if your system has been compromised, a hacker could use your machine as part of a distributed denial of service attack.
• By default, Windows Firewall rejects all incoming traffic unless that traffic is in response to a previous outgoing request. If you're running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Firewall is turned on by default. If you Firewall is not turned on by default, then your using an unpatched OS and need to update your system to SP2.

If you choose to use a 3rd-party firewall, you need to disable the Windows firewall. Using two software firewalls on a single computer could cause issues with connectivity to the Internet or other unexpected behavior. Further, running multiple software firewalls can cause conflicts that are hard to identify and troubleshoot. Only one of the firewalls can receive the packets over the network and process them. Sometimes you may even have a conflict that causes neither firewall to protect your connection. However, you can use a hardware firewall (your router) and a software firewall (Kerio or ZoneAlarm) in conjunction. For more information see "The Differences and Features of Hardware & Software Firewalls".

Thanks for the advice, Quietman. Then my question would be, based on what I stated before: what freeware firewalls are compatible with Kaspersky Anti-Virus?

Regards,

Quote,
"Btw, I am using the free edition of Comodo, so I don't know what the full version includes and if it runs any differently."

The free version is the full version. Comodo have promised to give the best available Firewall for free for ever.

Yes as mentioned above Comodo Personal is the free (for life). Also their BOClean antispyware tool is free.

That's nice to hear. However, is Comodo compatible with Kaspersky Anti-Virus?

Regards,

You can run Zone Alarm free firewall with Kaspersky AV just not the latest version 7 which has a "phantom" security suite buried in it with Kaspersky AV engine.

I haven't read about any compatibility issues with ZA and Kaspersky.

Ive actually had ZA with McAfee and no problem. Same with Trend Micro and AVAST.
ZoneAlarm is a pretty good firewall though. So I hope (for you) it works with Kaspersky

Yeah, ZA is a pretty good one, but when installing Kaspersky, this program asked me to uninstall ZoneAlarm .

Is Kaspersky a security suite? Or just the AV?

Just anti-virus trial edition.

I don't understand.. so did you manage to get ZA installed?

Oh, I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. No, I didn't, I had to uninstall ZoneAlarm. This is the story:

1. I had ZoneAlarm Free Firewall installed.
2. I had AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition installed.
3. Then I removed AVG...
4. I installed Kaspersky Anti-Virus (30 days trial)
5. When installing KAV, a window appeared: "You must uninstall these programs in order for KAV to work". The only one in the list was ZoneAlarm Firewall.
6. I uninstalled ZA.

So that's how thing went. Now I'm running on Windows built-in firewall. That's why I asked if it was reliable and what other free firewall may I run along with KAV. However, it seems that no one

Regards,

That is unususual

You should consider reading this: Zone Alarm FREE V7 clashes with Kaspersky AV

You're a genius, man!!

Thanks a lot!

Not a problem

Here's a link talking about the compatibility issue with Kaspersky and the latest version 7 of ZA and the phantom suite buried in ZA free
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board/m...essage.id=74677

Hi,

Thanks for the link.

Actually I tried: I downloaded ZA 6.5.737 version, but it doesn't run. Windows says: "This is not a valid Win32 application". What might be happening? I tried to download the file again, but although I delete it and remove it from Firefox downloaded objects, it just copies itself in my target directory (instead of downloading).

Regards,

UPDATE

Ok, finally I downloaded the file correctly, but when trying to run it, this message appears:

An external application must be launched to handle file: links.

Requested link:

file:///C:/Documents&and&Settings/Kike/My&Documents/Received/zlsSetup_65_737_000_en.exe

Application: file

If you were not expecting this request, it may be an attempt to exploit a weakness in that other program. Cancel this request unless you are sure it is not malicious".

The dialog box offers two possibilities: Launch Application and Cancel.

Why is this happening and what is the better thing to do?

Hi,
Zone alarm downloads from their site work best with IE6 or IE7 - the zone alarm forum is littered with examples of corrupted downloads using firefox. Also, can't tell if you are a dialup user, if you are best not to use a download manager or web accelerator -again causes corrupt downloads according to za site Also make sure the size of the file you are downloading is what you get

Hi,

You're welcome

These links may be helpful to you

New, easier uninstall Zone Alarm instructions
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board/m...;message.id=103

Zone Alarm Installation guide
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board/m...essage.id=75616

Hi,

I tried by downloading it using IE 7.0. However, it still can't run. The same notification keeps appearing: "zlsSetup_65_737_000_en.exe is not a valid win32 application". And it doesn't run

Regards,

Hi,
You are still getting a corrupted file error - did you uninstall the firefox za download? before you downloaded with ie? Try uninstalling, redownload and then reinstall

New, easier uninstall Zone Alarm instructions
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board/m...;message.id=103

Redownload za

Zone Alarm Installation guide
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/board/m...essage.id=75616

tork

Hi, Tork,

Yeah, these are the steps I followed:

1. Downloaded installation file with Firefox 2.0
2. Tried to run file, but the message that I quoted before appeared.
3. I deleted the file, removed it from Firefox's dowloading history and ran CCleaner.
4. I accessed ZoneAlarm web page with I. Explorer 7.0.
5. I downloaded installation file.
6. I tried to run installation file, but with the same results: it keeps telling me that this is not a win32 valid application.

So, as you see, ZoneAlarme Firewall never actually came to be installed in my system. Actually, I had ZoneAlarm Firewall installed, but then I uninstalled it, formatted my hard disk drive and installed O. S. again, without installing ZoneAlarm.

Hello

Its a bummer that you're having more issues with ZA.
But I find it very unusual that you're having problems downloading it. I used firefox to download ZA firewall and not a problem there

I'll look into that win32 issue for you though. See what I can fine yeah?

Thank you very much for that.

Best regards,

I've tried to find a solution at the ZoneAlarm forums (as I thought that woud be the ebst place to look) but they all keep recommeding the same thing:



I'll keep trying but Ive been to a few websites and after trying it again people have resolved it

Hello

From the za site there is more info


Quoting from this link:
http://forums.zonelabs.com/zonelabs/board/...thread.id=17789
"FYI, I had to DL 6.5 from www.oldapps.com. The DL from this site produced a truncated file (2.5MB). I noticed other messages regarding this DL problem. I use IE 7, don't have a DL manager, and had no problem with the other site's DL. Someone may want to check the 6.5 file on this site."

dowloading from oldapps.com maybe the solution

tork

Hi,

If I were you id try Online Armor free firewall. And if that doesnt work Id go back to using AVG anti virus and a firewall of your choice. If Kaspersky has a forum you could ask there what might work. Zonealarm recently isnt being recommended so much because its its a 40mb download most of which you wont be using and recently they added an Ask toolbar to it (be sure to uncheck the box that asks if you want their extra security feature). Zonealarm has fallen out of most peoples recommendation lists because of the above.

Comodo is a 9mb download and can be ran with or without its extra defense +. Although there is some argument if it is safe running it without defense +.

Online Armor is very good and I don't know of any issues surrounding it.

Kerio/Sunbelt firewall is another you could try.

Zonealarm is the only one with a freakish 40mb they want you to download, most of which is the paid versions stuff which you will never use.

Anyways this is the information I have gathered since beginning to research the firewalls.

Hi, everybody!

Yeah, I did it!! Finally I was able to download and properly install ZoneAlarm Firewall 65.737.000!! I think that maybe the reason for the installation file downloaded from ZoneAlarm's website not to work is that maybe the file is corrupted: it is only 2 MB! The file in Oldapps is 13.4 MB.

Thank you VERY much, Tork, for the tip of Oldapps. I already bookmarked it! Great site!!

Thank you all who gave opinions and tips . Thank you for keeping this place as good and supportive as it is right now .

Best regards,

Kike G,
You're welcome

tork

Congratulations Kike G
Glad you got it sorted