Best firewalls?

[quaxo]

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

[Oracle]

Keep you system free of viruses and other malware, which would most likely be the cause of your system sending out nasty stuff.

Exactly. A firewall is like the door to your house. It can be locked from the inside and from the outside.

You wan't the outside locked so no one can come in without you giving them the key (port forward of reply packets).

Normally you wouldn't want the inside to be locked, you want the possibility to get out of the house, but if you (unintentionally) let an intruder into your house (malware, virus..) you could lock the inside. But if you be careful and never let an intruder into the house you don't have to lock the inside.

[Calum]

That's actually a nice comparison, I'll remember that one.
What I will say though, following it on, is that if an intruder is in your house he will have the keys to get out.

[kpac]

is that if an intruder is in your house he will have the keys to get out.

Except if you left the door open.

[Calum]

In which case all bets are off.

[Peterwolfe]

with all the nice and warm chitchat I only heard one firewall name: Comodo....is everybody running their OS-firewall than??
Routers, well ok, but why should I get a router when I have 1 PC only???

[kpac]

Online Armor is apparently the best now. There is also PC Tools Firewall.

[Peterwolfe]

Thanks kpac...cool

[overthehill]

I tried both but I'm currently using Online Armor. I find it easier to manage and less intrusive. overthehill

[patio]

with all the nice and warm chitchat I only heard one firewall name: Comodo....is everybody running their OS-firewall than??
Routers, well ok, but why should I get a router when I have 1 PC only???

Because routers are a hardware solution and can be had for less than the price of a good firewall app...

[quaxo]

with all the nice and warm chitchat I only heard one firewall name: Comodo....is everybody running their OS-firewall than??
Routers, well ok, but why should I get a router when I have 1 PC only???

I'm using Kaspersky Internet Security on all of my computers, which includes a software firewall. My router includes a hardware firewall for further protection.

Because routers are a hardware solution and can be had for less than the price of a good firewall app...

Agreed.

[Oracle]

That's actually a nice comparison, I'll remember that one.
What I will say though, following it on, is that if an intruder is in your house he will have the keys to get out.

with all the nice and warm chitchat I only heard one firewall name: Comodo....is everybody running their OS-firewall than??
Routers, well ok, but why should I get a router when I have 1 PC only???

Because when you have the firewall (keys to the house) inside the house, the intruder can get out if it's programmed to hack the windows firewall for example. But if you have an external firewall (which allmost all routers have) the intruder (malware/virus) can't simple alter the firewall rules.

But the only real way to do this is to lock everything down and use a (transparent) proxy, which isn't worth the hassle for home use.

And a "hardware" router/firewall is no more than a small computer with buildin network interfaces and a switch. The firewalling itself is all done in software. The real benifit is that it's an external device that isn't as easily comprimised as your (windows) pc.

[Accessless]

Before I got a router (with a firewall) I used to use Zone Alarm. I don't know what that's like now but I always found it to be very thorough and to have a logical interface.