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Agnitum (makers of Outpost Firewall and AV) has been acquired by Yandex

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4wd:
I have given up using anything other than built in security software ... -Carol Haynes (January 28, 2016, 12:37 PM)
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Same here except I use it because of the lack of performance hit.

The built in firewall
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With the addition of WFC for outgoing connection control.

And Malwarbytes AntiMalware (lifetime licenses).
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With Website Protection turned off because it's more annoying than useful.

Innuendo:
At the time I was running OSS the only other firewall with almost as fine grain control was Comodo Internet Security Suite - I have no idea if that is still the case though.-4wd (January 23, 2016, 04:39 PM)
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I've never heard a lot about Comodo's security suite. The extent of my knowledge was that it was the only firewall (other than Agnitum's) that will pass 100% of leak tests. I decided to poke around it a bit this morning & the results surprised me. I knew they had a paid tier and a free tier. I figured it was like all the other security software publishers in that the free tier was a stripped down or limited version of the paid product.

No, it's not. Turns out the free version is the full-on complete product and not limited in any way. The paid version just gets you tech support and expert-assisted virus/malware removal. Comodo's trying to build up its brand name and reputation in the security community (and sale SSL certificates) so part of their strategy is giving a complete security suite for free.

I've installed it and wow, it's comprehensive. I don't necessarily mean that in a good way, either. There are settings to alter nearly every single way the suite behaves. If someone doesn't know what they are doing they'll leave their system completely exposed while mistakenly thinking that their system is protected. What's worse is that the default settings are a balance of "totally locked down" and "not bothered by prompts" that I would not have necessarily have chosen as it's a little too lax, IMHO.

I'm going to give it a go for a few days, but I'm a computer security geek & playing with stuff like this gives me great joy, but before anyone else decides to install this, please keep in mind that this thing has a 648 page PDF manual. That's six hundred forty-eight pages. Get too overzealous & strict with your settings and your PC is not going to boot.

If you want to get an education (or already have one) this might be a fun ride, but for the Click Next-Next-Next-Done crowd it will mostly end in salty tears.

It's too bad that these Internet Security Suites don't allow you to uninstall parts you don't require or at least stop them from using resources, you could continue to use just the firewall component then.
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I will give the Comodo guys credit for their installer. They list the different modules: AV, firewall, hardened browser, and their GeekBuddy expert service. One can pick and choose what to install and what to leave out. I went with just the AV and firewall. It's going to take some serious fiddling around to decide if the suite is worth keeping or not, though.

If this doesn't pan out I think I'm going to try 4wd's solution of MBAM and WFC.

4wd:
The extent of my knowledge was that it was the only firewall (other than Agnitum's) that will pass 100% of leak tests.-Innuendo (January 30, 2016, 02:08 PM)
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I actually went from using Comodo to using Agnitum because the number of alerts Comodo generated started to drive me nuts  ;D

If this doesn't pan out I think I'm going to try 4wd's solution of MBAM and WFC.
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That's going to depend on what you expect of WFC, it is just a frontend to Windows Firewall with Advanced Security (WFwAS), so if you're used to the almost geek-like control that Outpost and Comodo gives over connections then you are going to be really disappointed.  I just wanted something that would notify me of outgoing connections and give me the option to temporarily/permanently ban them.

My review of an earlier version (it's currently 4.6.0.0) is over here.

Innuendo:
Well, Comodo didn't last long on my system. Soon as I installed it LAN transfer speeds tanked. I turned off *everything*...firewall, AV, HIPS, etc. and the speeds were still bottlenecked. Soon as I uninstalled it (didn't even have to reboot) and the speeds miraculously returned. Searches on the internet only led to old 2007 era threads with promises that the problem had been fixed. Not exactly helpful...

So committed I was to giving Comodo a fair shake I did a complete reinstall of Windows thinking maybe some remnant of Agnitum's software was the cause. No such luck. Reports say v9 is in alpha so maybe I'll give that a try when it's released.

Meanwhile, I shall read 4wd's review of WFC & ponder my next move.

TheNewtonian:
I am, sad , like so many others but I've given up whining and crying.

I'm staying with Outpost Firewall Pro until they pull the plug on it and if I am still around (i'll be 82) I'll worry about it.

I see I am repeating myself.  :) :-[ :Thmbsup:
-jadinolf (January 24, 2016, 05:46 PM)
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I am a long time user of Outpost Security Suite. Apart from the Antivirus part which I have turned off, it is still running fine as a very good firewall. Probably the best. So for me the good news is I can solve my problem quite easily. I have downloaded the Bitdefender Free Antivirus. With that and its excellent reputation and the excellent reputation of the Agnitum Outpost Firewall I am doing fine. If others out there can confirm this is working for them then there is a good solution. Until someone makes a better firewall then I am staying with the Outpost one. There is no reason for it to stop working. It doesn't need any maintenance. Its great. And so were the guys at Agnitum. Really dedicated to their product. People used to look at me strange when I tell them I use a Russian Firewall, lol. Probably the best people to make one. Anyway at the end of the day when you want to get out of a business like that and you have spent years developing and perfecting your security technology it is like cashing out of the casino or the investment one may have in a house. It just sits there and grows in value irrespective of the subscription income. I guess Agnitum felt it was the time to take a big bonus cheque. Good luck to them - they deserved it. I was well protected for many years. Respect to them.

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