[Simon71]

Hi,

Is the default firewall that comes with VISTA good enough? I tried to use ZONEALARM on Vista but they din't get along too well. Any advice?

Thanks
Simon

[mrss]

Here's a comparison of aftermarket firewalls.
http://www.matousec.com/projects/fir...ge/results.php

Zone Alarm Pro had a good rating. I didn't see any test of the free version. I use Online Armour on one PC and McAfee on another, I see McAfee rated as useless. Hmm.

This begs the question. They don't show any results for XP or Vista firewalls. DOes this mean they would fail these tests completely? Well Consumer's Reports says Vista is not good for blocking outbound trojans.
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/ele...oft_vista.html

BTW, when using a 3rd party firewall, you have to turn off the Windows firewall.

[AKAJohnDoe]

Matousec is highly suspect in the manner in which testing is performed. Take any results obtained from there with a grain of salt.

The Vista firewall is quite good, both at incoming and outgoing. However, it is a PITA to configure for outgoing.

The ZoneAlarm firewall is quite good at both and is easily configured. The free version of ZoneAlarm does NOT include the Program Control facility, which is almost essential for configuring outgoing.

[blues_harp28]

Originally Posted by AKAJohnDoe

Matousec is highly suspect in the manner in which testing is performed. Take any results obtained from there with a grain of salt.

Hi can you let us know why you say this?
Any research that you may have done etc.
Just a question.

[AKAJohnDoe]

Here are a few links:

Smokeys

Wilders

And the whole concept of leak testing as done by Matousec is in itself a bit of a stretch.

[blues_harp28]

Interesting links.
An independent review is the key.

[lunarlander]

Vista Fiewall has both inbound and outbound protection. But the outbound protection is disabled by default. To enable it, go to Start > Administrative Tools > Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. There in the center panel, you will see a link saying Windows Firewall Properties. Click that. A dialog box will pop up with 4 tabs. Depending on which network profile you have: domain, private or public; corresponding to the type of network you chose in Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center. Choose your profile, and for 'outbound connections' choose 'block' from the pull down menu.

If you don't see Administrative Tools in your Start Menu. Right click on the start button > Properties > choose customize for your start menu. Scroll down the list box to the bottom and you will see "System Administative Tools" then choose "display in ... start menu".

Once you have enabled outbound protection. You need to make rules to allow certain programs access to the internet. In the above firewall program, you can make outbound rules. For example you will need to make an outbound rule to Allow the Program "Iexplorer.exe", which is IE7.