advice: Windows7Firewall control vs built in

[Ken1943]

Windows Firewall Control
http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html
is recommended by some as an interface for the built in W7 firewall.

Does anyone here use it?

Pros and Cons?

Is the built-in W7 firewall fine just by itself?

Thanks.

Because of trouble with Agnitum Outpost Security Suite on one net book, I
switched to MS Security and Win 7 firewall. I purchased the program to
help with the firewall. It seems work ok, but like all programs, does
take getting used to. Their support forum was very responsive to a couple
of questions I had and emailed me when I didn't respond to one answer.

I guess if I learned about the firewall, it would be ok. If there is a
user manual about it somewhere, which I didn't try to find. I always look
for an easier way.


KenW

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Windows Firewall Control http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html is
recommended by some as an interface for the built in W7 firewall.

Does anyone here use it?

Pros and Cons?

Is the built-in W7 firewall fine just by itself?

Personally, I think the W7 firewall is fine. Like any software, you just
have to learn how to use it effectively. I had no trouble constructing
custom rules.

 

[VanguardLH]

Windows Firewall Control
http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html
Does anyone here use it?

Are we to assume you are asking about the free or paid version of the
Sphinx software? Look at their feature chart. There's almost no reason
to waste the disk space and CPU resource on their free version.

 

[s|b]

Windows Firewall Control
http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html
is recommended by some as an interface for the built in W7 firewall.

Does anyone here use it?

No, I use Online Armor Free (not only because the firewall, but also
because it got HIPS).

Is the built-in W7 firewall fine just by itself?

If you're behind a router with NAT and built-in firewall you should be
fine.

 

[Jeff]

Windows Firewall Control
http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html
is recommended by some as an interface for the built in W7 firewall.

Does anyone here use it?

Pros and Cons?

Is the built-in W7 firewall fine just by itself?

Thanks.

 

[Fokke Nauta]

Because of trouble with Agnitum Outpost Security Suite on one net book, I
switched to MS Security and Win 7 firewall. I purchased the program to
help with the firewall. It seems work ok, but like all programs, does
take getting used to. Their support forum was very responsive to a couple
of questions I had and emailed me when I didn't respond to one answer.

I guess if I learned about the firewall, it would be ok. If there is a
user manual about it somewhere, which I didn't try to find. I always look
for an easier way.


KenW

What troubles did you have with Outpost? I choosed this one to use on my W7
laptop. Have not ordered it yet.

Fokke Nauta

 

[Ken1943]

What troubles did you have with Outpost? I choosed this one to use on my W7
laptop. Have not ordered it yet.

Fokke Nauta

ACS.exe which is the main process has a high cpu usage. This is on a
Toshiba net book. My Asus net book and 2 64 bit desktops are fine. All
Windows 7 now.

I am certain the Toshiba is at fault because it has so many utilities
installed, many which I have stopped. They cannot be uninstalled because
they interact with other utilities. I won't buy another Toshiba product.
Even putting a clean Win 7 on, the function keys would not work with the
one utility that it needed.

I have used Outpost Security Suite since XP came out and it has been very
good. One thing I can say is their updates have never caused a system
crash like some other products out there.


KenW

 

[Fokke Nauta]

ACS.exe which is the main process has a high cpu usage. This is on a
Toshiba net book. My Asus net book and 2 64 bit desktops are fine. All
Windows 7 now.

I am certain the Toshiba is at fault because it has so many utilities
installed, many which I have stopped. They cannot be uninstalled because
they interact with other utilities. I won't buy another Toshiba product.
Crapware?

Even putting a clean Win 7 on, the function keys would not work with the
one utility that it needed.
Toshiba?

I have used Outpost Security Suite since XP came out and it has been very
good. One thing I can say is their updates have never caused a system
crash like some other products out there.


KenW

I purchased W7 Home premium to try in VMWare and to get used to it.
And to write course stuff, as a lot of people out there now use W7.
Still use XP Pro on the host.
As we will be moving on to W7 64b on our PC's, I am into investigating how I
can make W7 to suit my needs.
In VMWare W7 I installed Outpost Firewall Pro for a test drive and I liked
it. Haven't seen any problem with it.

In XP I still use Sunbelt Personal Firewall, which now has become obsolete,
but it still works fine.
It wouldn't run on W7, so I searched for another firewall.

Fokke

 

[Char Jackson]

In XP I still use Sunbelt Personal Firewall, which now has become obsolete,
but it still works fine.
It wouldn't run on W7, so I searched for another firewall.

There's a firewall built in, you know.

 

[Fokke Nauta]

There's a firewall built in, you know.

I never trusted Windows firewalls. I thought I'd be better off with a third
party firewall.

Fokke

 

[Char Jackson]

I never trusted Windows firewalls.

Based on what? What have you read or heard?

I thought I'd be better off with a third
party firewall.

Probably not.

 

[Fokke Nauta]

Based on what? What have you read or heard?

We all know that the XP firewall is far from protective. It doesn't work
properly, hence I use the Sunbelt firewall.
Likely the W7 firewall is better, but as far as I have seen difficult to
handle.

Probably not.

I wouldn't say that. There are firewalls that are easier to configer that
the W7 one.
I liked Outpost.

Fokke

 

[Char Jackson]

We all know that the XP firewall is far from protective.

We don't all know that.

It doesn't work properly,

I've never run into a problem with it, and I see a lot of systems.

hence I use the Sunbelt firewall.
Likely the W7 firewall is better, but as far as I have seen difficult to
handle.

Not difficult at all. In fact, 99.99% of Win 7 users don't need to
touch it. It just works.

I wouldn't say that. There are firewalls that are easier to configer that
the W7 one.
I liked Outpost.

Ok, thanks.

 

[Nil]

We all know that the XP firewall is far from protective. It
doesn't work properly, hence I use the Sunbelt firewall.

I don't know that. As far as I know, the XP firewall is perfectly
protective... for what it was designed to do, which is only to filter
incoming traffic. I agree that that's not good enough, but it works
properly as designed. Do you know any different?

 

[Fokke Nauta]

I don't know that. As far as I know, the XP firewall is perfectly
protective... for what it was designed to do, which is only to filter
incoming traffic. I agree that that's not good enough, but it works
properly as designed. Do you know any different?

Its shortcoming is indeed that it doesn't filter outgoing traffic and that
is what I wanted. That is why I installed Sunbelt Personal Firewall.Though
it has become obsolete and is no longer supported, I still use it on my XP
machines.

I don't know how the firewall of W7 is, but I experimented with Outpost and
I liked this application.

Fokke

 

[Fokke Nauta]

We don't all know that.


I've never run into a problem with it, and I see a lot of systems.

It does not filter outbound traffic.

Not difficult at all. In fact, 99.99% of Win 7 users don't need to
touch it. It just works.

Does it also filter outgoing traffic?

Ok, thanks.

I installed it on my W7 machine in VMWare, so I could play with it.

Fokke

 

[Daniel47]

It does not filter outbound traffic.


Does it also filter outgoing traffic?

If you are doing the right thing, by checking what you download and what
you connect to your computer (by USB Drive, Floppies and/or CD/DVD
drives, etc.), then there is no way for you to get infected, so no need
to worry about your outbounds being infected!!

IMHO!!

Daniel