Software Firewalls & Online Gaming

i started using swfw's just to see wtf. i guess they are nice, but honestly so far they are more trouble than "I" can tell. i started using peerguardian 2 (if u wanna call that a fw) and it did the job i wanted it to do. without flaw. well, a couple times it has crashed, but i think that was my fault. i've learnt. anywho, then i moved on to zone alarm pro version 6 (or whatever). w0w, did that just suck! maybe it was the copy i got, idk, but it was terrible. then i tried the zone alarm free version 6 and it was A LOT better! so, that went back to me thinking that the zone alarm pro version i had wasn't prob a good dl. pretty much though it was the same outcum. TERRIBLE with ONLINE GAMING!!!! i can't stress that enough. so, from there i just went back to windows' built in firewall. maybe it sux, but dammit i've never had a problem with it. lol, maybe that's why it sux? some odd time later zone alarm free version 7 came out. dl'ed it and gave it a try. w0w, back to dog shit! crashed ALL my programs more than a couple of times and stll laggy as hell with, u guessed it, ONLINE GAMING. currently i switched over to Comodo Firewall PRO version 2 and i thought it was pretty good. mind u u have to config certain things like hardware firewalls in order for ports to work, but that's ok. tried ONLINE GAMING once and it seems to work fine. today, right be4 work i tried me some CSS with CFW enabled and the damn thing was terrible laggy. i disabled it and walla back to beautifully flowing ONLINE GAMING!

i guess i'll be trying a different fw again cum sunday and hopefully i can find something that works. my question is... is there a swfw that has great security along with stable ONLINE GAMING? or do all software firewalls need to be disabled in order for ONLINE GAMING to be worth a damn? i do want to continue using a swfw "if" i can get one working properly for anything is better than nothing i believe. i really hope someone can help me out in this for this has been an ongoing problem for me and i can't seem to fix it the way "I" want it fixed and/or just working in the way i think is properly. thank you.

First off, Peerguardian is NOT a firewall. Its a mere IP blocker. I online game a lot and find a lot of firewalls work, but its just how you configure them. Zone Alarm, Sygate, Outpost and Look n' Stop all work with online gamming you just need to configure them properly. For starters, you can just give unrestricted access to what ever games u play online. Second, some firewalls have like a "stealth mode" or some kind of paranoid high secure mode. I would recomend just setting at the default level to mimimize interference with your game.

Other than that, its all trial and error. That or just disable your firewall (which I dont recommend).

apparently i'm not configuring firewalls correctly then. lol, i know pg2 isn't a firewall, but seeing how we are talking about it then do i even need to run pg2 if i have a firewall such as zone alarm security suite?

so, i'm running zone alarm security suite... how do i properly configure this thing so it doesn't lag my games? how to give it unrestricted access? i've look for some kind of port to forward or what not and it doesn't seem to involve that. there are levels of security form 1-3, kill, and no enforcement. maybe the no enforcement is what u r referring to? maybe some help on doing this seeing how i'm not properly doing it?

no port forwarding on the current fw i'm using compared to comodo pro using utorrent. it also found that utorrent was a safe prog to use and automatically gave it a trusted connection. this is the 3rd different version of zone alarm i've used. so far this one seems to be the best. i like it's cache cleaner, but seeing how i have ccleaner auto do that for me it's overkill. i DO like the ad blocker, for some ads now have even passed my firefox adblock plus extension and this thing is killing them all. nice touch. has onboard virus scan as well, but i opted to disable it for i have avg running in the background. zone alarms virus scan is better?

seems as though all swfw's run good when i first start them and try ONLINE GAMING. same goes for this as i just played 30 mins of CSS to test it and no lag. comodo pro seemed to do the same thing, but later it lagged me. zone alarm pro and free both did that right out the box. hrm, maybe this will be a better experience. especially if this kklord gets back with me. thx.

just tried this:

For ZoneAlarm Pro/Plus
1. Open up ZoneAlarm
2. Create a rule for "Steam.exe" giving it "Allow Full Access" permission. This allows Steam to update and do it's thing easily.
- a. Select Program Control | Programs, then click "Add"
- b. Navigate to "Steam.exe" (located in C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe)
- c. Select Program Control | Programs, then click "Allow". Be sure to give it full access
3. Create a rule for the mod's (DoD, CS) "HL.exe" giving it "Allow Full Access" permission. This allows the individual mod to send, receive and do it's thing easily.
- a. Select Program Control | Programs, then click "Add"
- b. Navigate to "HL.exe" (located in C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\YOUR@E-MAIL\Name of Mod\HL.exe)
- c. Select Program Control | Programs, then click "Allow". Be sure to give it full access
4. If you want to play any other mod, you will need to create a rule for each HL.exe associated with the mod. giving it full internet access.

"Adding custom ports in ZoneAlarm"
You can allow communication through additional ports at High security, or block additional ports at Medium security by specifying individual port numbers or port ranges.
To specify additional ports:
Select Firewall->Main.
In Internet Zone area, click Custom.
The Custom Firewall settings dialog appears.
Scroll to the security level (High) .
Select the desired port type: incoming UDP, outgoing UDP,
incoming TCP, or outgoing TCP.
Type the port or port ranges you want to allow or block in the Ports field, separated by commas. For example, 139, 200-300
Click Apply, then click OK.
(This is from ZoneAlarm Help...on UDP.Ports)
I added in the INTERNET ZONE:
Outgoing UDP:1200,27000-27015
Outgoing TCP:27030-27039

took me forever just to find that. still getting lag. i'm sorry, but ur guys' software firewalls are worthless.

If you got a router do you really need a software firewall if you use a seprate user account tweaked for gaming?