Firewalls?

[sleepnmojo]

I like kerio personal firewall. Has everything you need and its free.

They split off from tiny, and haven't really pushed it. They have a beta out, haven't tried it yet. I don't like tiny's newest versions. I tried zone alarm a while back. Didn't really care for it. Most other ones you "should" pay for.

[ToraBoraDweller]

All of the above are better than Windows own firewall since that one
only monitors incoming traffic and not outgoing traffic.
If you are not used to working with firewalls :just take the one
with the easiest interface ,later on when you understand the principals
better you can always change to a more sophisticated one.
For myself I like ZoneAlarmPro still the best.

[TRshady]

I still cant beleive no-one's mentioned norton firewall!

[Nobody1234]

Norton Internet Security 2003 is a package that includes AntiVirus and Firewall amongst some other cool things.

You could also consider getting a NAT Router. (Built-in hardware firewall)

[dimeco]

I'm a big fan of Sygate Personal Firewall Pro. Shows you the ports in use, incoming/outgoing speed, and also has other useful features like stealthing of user data (OS, browser, referer fields etc), an IDS, and the ability to record and log packets. I used to use ZAP but found it reported a lot of false positives (it would sometimes report 300 or more "attacks" per day).

[junkyardking]

firewalls, firewalls and firewalls , alot have been said about how this that firewall is great but alot of this is based on hearsay without actualy testing it out , zonealarm pro is good but does have faults.

Most firewalls reqiure at least some basic setup, some people tend to build their own firewalls e.g. system administrators and hackers, but this requires some skill.

I recommend trying a few, install one then test it by going to this site http://grc.com/default.htm and conduct the "shields up" and "leak" tests, which are designed to test your firewall and they are free.