Zone Alarm's free firewall was my first software firewall.
I dumped it many years ago for reasons I can't remember. Suffice it to say that I am satisfied that Window's 7 native software firewall, parked behind a Nat-enabled hardware firewall in my gateway router, works for me. The "best" software firewall was a hot topic here a few years back, but I eventually decided to use the Window's firewall. No regrets, after many years.
Steve Gibson's "ShieldsUp!" assures me that I am stealthed to the internet, at least for the first 1056 ports. You might want to run this scan here: https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2
I regularly use ShieldsUp to make sure ZA is working, and all 1056 ports are still hidden, as of today.
Started using ZA because -way back when- Microsoft's firewall only blocked incoming but not outgoing traffic, while ZA blocks both. Is that still true?
Just don't understand why the sudden appearance of that funny ZA window.
Sorry I can't answer your question about that ZA window, Ron.
You are correct that the Win 7 firewall does not provide blanket outbound protection. But after using several 3rd party firewalls, I questioned the need for outbound protection. After all, if malware tries to phone home, your inbound protection has already failed you. I got tired of the increasing complexity and "improvements" the 3rd party firewalls kept foisting on me. So I applied Occam's Razor and took the simplest solution years ago. I've never regetted it.
joe53
2 Intern
•
5.8K Posts
0
December 2nd, 2014 18:00
Zone Alarm's free firewall was my first software firewall.
I dumped it many years ago for reasons I can't remember. Suffice it to say that I am satisfied that Window's 7 native software firewall, parked behind a Nat-enabled hardware firewall in my gateway router, works for me. The "best" software firewall was a hot topic here a few years back, but I eventually decided to use the Window's firewall. No regrets, after many years.
Steve Gibson's "ShieldsUp!" assures me that I am stealthed to the internet, at least for the first 1056 ports. You might want to run this scan here:
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2
RoHe
10 Elder
•
45.2K Posts
0
December 3rd, 2014 10:00
I regularly use ShieldsUp to make sure ZA is working, and all 1056 ports are still hidden, as of today.
Started using ZA because -way back when- Microsoft's firewall only blocked incoming but not outgoing traffic, while ZA blocks both. Is that still true?
Just don't understand why the sudden appearance of that funny ZA window.
joe53
2 Intern
•
5.8K Posts
0
December 3rd, 2014 12:00
Sorry I can't answer your question about that ZA window, Ron.
You are correct that the Win 7 firewall does not provide blanket outbound protection. But after using several 3rd party firewalls, I questioned the need for outbound protection. After all, if malware tries to phone home, your inbound protection has already failed you. I got tired of the increasing complexity and "improvements" the 3rd party firewalls kept foisting on me. So I applied Occam's Razor and took the simplest solution years ago. I've never regetted it.
More on this topic in the links below:
http://askbobrankin.com/do_i_need_an_outbound_firewall.html
http://ask-leo.com/is_an_outbound_firewall_needed.html
http://www.davescomputertips.com/do-outbound-firewalls-really-offer-any-additional-benefits/
http://lifehacker.com/why-you-shouldnt-bother-with-an-outbound-firewall-1346112252
http://www.howtogeek.com/172349/why-you-dont-need-an-outbound-firewall-on-your-laptop-or-desktop-pc/