What kind of Firewall Do I need?

So if my ISP pings me and I deny it, will it affect my ISP connection? Will they get pissed that I deny their ping?

Not at all. More and more informed computer users are using Firewalls and Routers these days as they do. Its probably just a holdover from the "old" days when they weren't deemed neccessary.

After you install your firewall you can check your protection at Sygate and at Shields Up. Its an interesting excercise that will teach you a lot. Do these with your firewall on and off. Afterwards, check your log and this will give you a chance to see what a port scan looks like. Lots of good info there too.

Glad to hear your getting more comfortable with this. Come back with questions anytime.

Whoa, I'm telling myself, not so fast on Kerio the little critter in my brain is telling me...

After deciding to focus on Kerio, I'm finding that while it may be one of the best firewalls around, the new release is really buggy. Some forum sites have posts that it doesn't allow wireless traffic (several posts), that version 4.1.2 is chock full of bugs, et cetera. Indeed, even Kerio's own help forum is full of bug reports.

So I started looking at Sygate's firewall, also highly respected by the security community. Although not perfect (what is?), it doesn't seem to have nearly the bugs reported, and their own support forum, unlike Kerio's, seem to be filled with more "how to" questions rather than bug reporting.

How do folks here feel about Sygate? I've read that it is not as user friendly as Kerio, but I figure I can overcome that with the help of my new friends here !

The only negative thing I've heard about Sygate's firewall is that it may only work with IE and some say Sygate will not work with XP at all. I'm running XP SP1 (no, I don't want to try SP2 yet) and I'm wondering if Sygate will work with this OS. Sygate states it will. Obviously this would be a deal killer in itself. Any comments on these issues? Anyone out there using Sygate now with Firefox? With XP? I use Firefox and don't want to go back to IE just for a firewall when there's plenty out there that work with Firefox.

Also, for those of you who may use Sygate, does getting the pay Pro version buy me much extra?

Lastly, for those of you recommending Kerio and those that might recommend Sygate...please post why you might choose one over the other? Just curious...

Thanks!

Well I have used Sygate Personal Firewall for several years, and also use Mozilla as my default browser, though not on XP (I don't see why a different browser would be a problem if you configure the firewall properly). Nor have I heard of massive conflicts with it and XP outside of some bad installations and failure to understand how a firewall works.

I myself have had no problems with it, and testing Sygate at ShieldsUp! (after getting Sygate set up correctly) showed no problems.

Cheers,
John

While the operating system is a factor during installation of a firewall (they need to be compatible) beyond that whatever other software you are using is not an issue. Your firewall reads the header in the packets to determine what is moving through and knows what to stop and what to allow. It does not matter if its Office 2000 or a streaming video.

Haven't used Sygate or Kerio in their present incarnations so can't help there. I liked them when I have used them in the past.

Rather than get a pay version of a firewall, spend your money on a Router. I have the third one down, which allows me to connect four computers. Nothing gets past that router. I also use EZ Trust software Firewall (that turned out to be a ZoneAlarm clone, arrrrg) to check on the outgoing stuff.

Lots of different firewalls here and here. I've heard a lot of good things about Tiny Personal Firewall. It mentions a 30 day trial but I'm pretty sure that it doesn't run out. Even if it does now, the trial version is the full version, unlike others so if you do buy it you know what your getting.

Suggest you do something soon before something gets in.

OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY. I'm done, I can't take it anymore. I've decided, I might love it, I might regret it, but I've decided to use the lastest Kerio PF! The bad reviews, the good reviews, TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!! ARRRGGG! I think that the folks that are having problems with the latest Kerio release may have issues other than the software, so I'm going to give it a go.

Soooo, I'm going to download Kerio this weekend. To those of you who use Kerio, any further suggestions for first time setup? Also, I am using a wireless Linksys router hooked to a cable modem. Will Kerio disable my wireless connection from my laptop to my router? If so, how do I get it to okay the connection ALL THE TIME. I do not want my wife to have to okay the transmissions from the built in wireless reciever to the router (and vice-versa) every time. This is one of the first things I need to know how to do and I won't have days to read through a hundred page manual to figure it out. If anyone who uses Kerio can post a way to immediately allow the wireless connection I would be most grateful. Anything else I can take my time and learn.

Thanks everyone! I didn't think deciding on a firewall would be this freakin' hard. I may switch to another firewall eventually, who knows? But I think Kerio will be a good one for me to learn on at first. I learned a plethora of programming languages over the years. If one can learn Assembler, one can learn anything.

After all that and you DO have a router. Hope you set up the security. See this thread. Kerio doesn't care which way your internet comes in be it dial up, ADSL or Cable. It will not disconnect you.

Edited by Leurgy, 14 January 2005 - 03:56 PM.

Yes, but I have a Linksys WRT55AG, from which I'm still trying to tweak to provide a good reception. The literature on the product states that it "comes with a stateful packet inspection firewall and Internet access filtering to ensure the legitimacy of packets as they enter the network." I'll look into using this capability, but I don't know exactly what security this will provide, how to use it or how it will differ from software firewalls (except I don't think router firewalls will prevent outgoing transmissions). I'll follow up with Linksys on this. I have enabled WEP, changed the SSID and all that, I just don't see a "firewall" admin panel or anything like that. You'll have to excuse the ignorance on the router, I'm still trying to understand software firewalls.

Thanks for the reply Leurgy!

Edited by jima, 14 January 2005 - 04:36 PM.