On 2017-08-23 09:04, Mayayana wrote:
"B00ze" wrote
| If I recall, Mayayana, you use Private Firewall?
I use Online Armor on XP and Private Firewall on
7. (You have a good memory! If you hadn't mentioned
the name I would have had to have checked.)
I remembered only because I had had my eye on PV already, and when you
told us one day that that's the one you were using I figured it
amplified my interest in it. The Windows Firewall has annoying
shortcomings, the most annoying being that it does not open a pop-up
window when it blocks an outgoing connection.
I've been waiting to see what else people recommend
for Win10. So far Comodo looks like a possibility. OA got
I tried Commodo once, but it was the entire security suite, and it was
just too much: You have rules, based on templates, based on something
else; like 3 levels deep. It also does HIPS, so it wants to control what
processes are allowed to do. Configuring the whole thing is a full time
job...
sold and changed after the XP version, and I've never
been more than generally satisfied with PF. The UI and
controls are not as easy to use. The trouble, as you
probably know, is that the products keep changing, being
sold, changing their license arrangement, etc. There
The product has not been updated since 2014. Waiting to see if someone
will pick-up...
was a time on 9x when Zone Alarm was all that anyone
used. Then they got a bad reputation over something
or other. I think they're still around. Are they any good
now? Goodness knows! And the Matousec site that reviews
these things seems to have been all but abandoned.
Hehehe, I had ZoneAlarm on my 9x box. But they insisted on "simplifying"
the program and it was less and less configurable. Haven't tried it in
years.
| Is that not just a front end to the Windows built-in Filtering API?
Not that I know of. There've been firewalls far longer
than there's been the Windows firewall. But I don't know
for sure. I've only looked at the Windows version a
bit and found the customizing controls seemed to be
almost impossible to use. But I have to say that I didn't
try very hard. I don't particularly want to use the fox
Agreed, Firewalls were around before the Microsoft Filtering API. But
I'm used to the Windows Firewall by now, so I've kinda given-up on
looking at alternatives. However, I still remember that one of the ones
I should look at, if someone ever buys them and continues development,
is PF.
to guard the henhouse. 
I block all svchost from going
out, for instance. I doubt Windows would allow that,
especially in Win10. Or more likely it would tell me svchost
was blocked and then call home anyway.
There are some services that should be allowed, like the one that
downloads CRLs. If you block all SVCHOSTS you will not have the latest
revocation lists. Since the Windows Firewall is very poor when it comes
to SVCHOSTS, I have a rule that allows svchosts only to specific IP
ranges (all Akamai.net). Bit of a pain to keep updated, but it's safer
than to allow svchost access to everything.
Best Regards,
--
! _\|/_ Sylvain /
! (o o) Member
avid-Suzuki-Fdn/EFF/Red+Cross/SPCA/Planetary-Society
oO-( )-Oo Bits of ice striking hull - "Captain, we're being hailed."