I was wondering if anybody used a firewall and if they did, which one. I am currently using Zone Alarm, but heard about Black Ice. Does anyone know which is better?

Personal preferance stay with Zone Alarm.

I use Zone Alaram and am quite happy with it. Easy to use and very straightforward.

Just like the ad says...."Talkative at first, but then it quiets down."

Zone Alarm is my top choice, too.

I use Personal Firewall from www.tinysoftware.com, (http://www.tinysoftware.com,) its free and its as paranoid as hell! :)

I have Norton Internet Security.

OK, I've got Black Ice 'cause my friends that "know these things" said it was the best. Pricey too! So what makes one better than the other anyway?

I'm with Intrepid99 I use Zonealarm .But have heard BlackIce is also good. Some guys I know use both.

BOTH? Man is that overkill? Maybe I need to know more about these things, school me if I need it.

I still stick with the hardware firewall in my D-Link router, I regualarly test it on the GRC site internet security test page (https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2) and have never failed to be in total "Stealth" mode, undetectable is always the best way to surf the Net

I bought and used Black Ice for over a year, and it has some issues. but I had since switched to zone alarm pro and I really like it much better. and it's easier to manage (not that black ice was, but ZA is much nicer) Zone Alarm here! (http://www.zonelabs.com)

joekd - thanks for the link, I tested my Black Ice and passed all tests. Whew! I was a bit concerned about it since I've been using it only because it was a friends advice. Then I read here that maybe it isn't as good as another, but it seems to be as good and I'll stick with it for now anyway.

If you have a spare machine sitting around (an old pentium or fast 486 will even do the trick) you may want to checkout Freesco (http://www.freesco.org/). Just make sure you have two nics in the box and presto! Insta-firewall booting from a floppy.

You can also checkout GnatBox Light (http://www.gnatbox.com/Pages/gblight.html) if you don't need massive amounts of simultaneous connections. One bonus with GnatBox is that it has a nifty little GUI to configure the floppy disk. They also have an excellent manual and support forum.

I've used both in the past and they are rock solid. They also save massive amounts of time over installing and configuring Linux (what Freesco runs on) or FreeBSD (what GnatBox runs on).

Another solution to check out is SonicWALL (www.sonicwall.com). The SonicWALL TELE2 is perfect for personal use, and has very easy web management functionality.

At work we're going to be using a SonicWALL Pro-VX... and it's very easy to setup and comes with everything we need, especially a cheap content filter subscription ($700/yr.)

Just my 2 cents.

While you are on www.grc.com (http://www.grc.com) check out leaktest,http://grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm, it'll tell ya if yer firewall is doing it's job.

"Your Internet connection flows both
ways . . . so must your security."

"Most personal software firewalls provide — or attempt
to provide — application-based management and
control of outbound Internet communications"

one of the reasons i switched from Blackice to Zonealarm was because of this test.


read this page, run the app with your firewall, then use yer own judgement.


hope it helps.