What is the lightest weight free firewall software?

[nyknicks]

This is for a WinXP virtual machine so it needs to be lightweight and block incoming and outgoing traffic. I've used Zonealarm for years on my main PCs, but I know its a little too heavy for a VM.

Thanks.

sorry for the double post but my other one didnt show up until much later

[iLOVENZB]

Comodo?

[darkstate01]

yeah I agree Comodo, It will do all the things you want for a free good firewall, It will keep you informed with popups telling you and asking you what programs are trying to get Into You Pc and out to the Internet.

[iLOVENZB]

y...It will keep you informed with popups telling you and asking you what programs are trying to get Into You Pc and out to the Internet.

That bit was a pain in the ass!

[invitestor]

one up for Comodo

[anon]

I've been using Outpost since 2006. Stuck with v4 since the latest versions have a lot of features I don't need. Memory usage is usually around 4MB.

[karachidude]

Commodo bugs at the start,but gurus say its the best out there:)

[Appzalien]

I really did not like commodo although its last update when I was using it showed improvement I still prefer Zone Alarm free because you can set it to Manual and it wil stop everything but itself from connecting to the net, nothing gets out without your permission, and its very obvious when they try. One of the tricks Programs use is to trick ZA into saying iots Window Explorer thats trying to connect. But its so obvios that I'm installing something when it pops up so who's foolin who here. For that reason I never put a check mark in always or never allow boxes for Windows Explorer so I can choose each time it comes up. Some programs I want to connect (ccleaner) and others I do not cause I cracked them. This comes in real handy if you want a program to connect to the net as you install the trial, and then later after its fixed you no longer want it to connect.

[graywolf]

I think i will vouch for comodo.. Though I have been using it recently, it gives satisfactory results.

[j2k4]

I use Comodo Internet Suite (also free) on my Win 7 64 machines as well as my XP machines.

Definitely not a resource hog.

Use the AV or FW functions optionally.

Here are Matousec's latest test results:

http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge/results.php

Btw-

This site and it's testing is what got me off the ZoneAlarm bandwagon - I used to be a big fan, but no more.

[Spaceboy]

Look'n'Stop

[Prophet]

Outpost Firewall it'a a good one !

[bhghomg]

Comodo for me

[bonkers]

comodo is the one for me also

[Cabalo]

Windows firewall?
It blocks all inbound connections, as it's necessary.

Windows 7 firewall even blocks outbound connections too, so I haven't any real need for any other one.
A firewall is what it is: a filter. If you know what you're doing, any firewall will do, happens the same with iptables in debian distros.

[anon]

Windows firewall?

A shame that firewall leak tester site is no more. We could have checked if the Windows FW is that good.

[bluegene]

How about the windows firewall, you can't go any lighter than that.

[Cabalo]

Windows firewall?

A shame that firewall leak tester site is no more. We could have checked if the Windows FW is that good.
I'm talking about the windows 7 firewall + DEP that is installed out of the box.

[anon]

I see, but what I meant is that there was this site where you could check if your firewall protected you against a lot of different attacks and leaktests:
http://www.firewallleaktester.com/

It's down now, but if it was up we could test how effective the Windows Firewall really is. Unless someone else knows a similar one (this wasn't just a port scanner, it tested 20+ common FW vulnerabilities, Outpost passed all tests).

[Cabalo]

I remember using that site back in the day. And it didn't exactly made a port scan, it tested for services running in the background that could remotely be accessed. Since Windows Vista and DEP, all is changed.

[j2k4]

Cabalo-

What do you think of-

http://www.matousec.com/

I've been onto them for a few years now...

[Kysar]

I just use Windows too.... do you think I should upgrade to an acutuall app?

[Gazian]

comodo is free and really strong

[durrigible]

Comodo is pretty resource intensive sometimes though. On some systems it bogs down quite a bit. Both myself, my roommate, and one of his friends have tried it on Win7x32 and had issues.

Avast seems to work pretty well from what I've seen, though. Still, not the most enjoyable program to use.