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Best free firewall for Windows?
Curt:
A new version of Online Armor was launched today: 2.1.0.85
You can get the "pro" version with a $15 rebate, using dicount code OAFEB
list of Features and Bug fixes – In detail
General
Resizeable GUI - our customers have been asking us to resize the Online Armor GUI - now, you can.
Remove Spamshield - the previous flagging of suspect spam messages was based on checking messages for spam-vertised links on SURBL. As spammers changed their tactics, it became clear this it became clear this approach was no longer effective and so the feature was removed..
Multiple Desktop Support - users with desktop switching software could not use Online Armor as popups would appear on the default desktop and were not answerable. Now, this is solved.
Fixed bug with uninstall protection - Online Armor protects itself from uninstallation. In the recent release, some users were unable to remove Online Armor without entering Safe mode. This issue is now fixed.
Fixed unresponsive tray icon - A few users reported after changing some options in Online Armor that the Online Armor menu became unresponsive. This meant settings could not be changed. This has now been fixed
Added hotkeys disable option - Some users did not want hotkeys (me included) - so now they can be disabled
Autoruns Enhancements
Online Armor has always monitored autorun locations; The scope of protection has been significantly enhanced in Online Armor - (Thanks to Tony Klein)
Additional scan during SCW added (folders where start menu items reside).
Safety Check Wizard
Realtime update during SCW - When Online Armor first starts, a Safety Check Wizard runs. This allows the system to scan the start menu, autoruns and so on to detect components that are already installed on the computer. This step means that the user should not be inundated with popups after a restart.
The Safety Check Wizard has a local list of common files which it compares against; This has been updated to link with OASIS (Online Armor Software Information Service) in real time. What this means is that the absolute latest data will be used on each install.
Faster Saving - Saving of the configuration during the wizard has been optimised
OASIS
OASIS (Online Armor Software Information Service) has been significantly updated. OASIS 2 provides the users with this data whether or not the file has been assessed, information about what the program does, how many users have seen it and some information about what it does.
When a program runs that is unknown - you can click the "more" button to get the OASIS results for it. This might help you decide what to do as it provides aggregate information about what the other users did.
You can also right click inside programs -> File Information -> More to get information out of OASIS.
Firewall
Optimized Performance for Torrents - when using bittorrent, firewall processing created slowdowns. This issue has been comprehensively corrected. You should not see slowdowns caused by Online Armor Firewall.
Automatic Network Identification (Interfaces) - previously all interfaces were lumped in as one. Now, ONLINE ARMOR will allow interfaces to be selectively trusted/not trusted. This caters for the case of the rOnline Armord warrior that may plug into trusted/public networks. This now also includes VPN interfaces.
Manage Windows Firewall during ONLINE ARMOR Install - If the windows firewall is active, it will be disabled. If Online Armor firewall is removed, windows firewall will be reactivated.
Added firewall log viewer - Users requested the ability to see firewall logs, and now they can.
Block network connection on boot (optional) - Users requested the ability to block all traffic during boot.
Firewall Logs are defaulted to "Off" - users reported big log file sizes - since most users have neither the need nor desire to manage or view firewall logs, we believe this makes sense. Advanced users will easily find out how to turn logs on - Standard users would not even know they needed to turn them off, or otherwise manage them
ICMP traffic is now blockable per application.
Help
Our help file has been updated, and localised into Japanese and Turkish.
Video help has been added in the help file - "Show me how".
Program Guard
Install Mode added (paid version) - automatically allows trusted installers to install without further prompting.
Allow blocking of trusted programs - We resolved a bug where users could not prevent safe programs from running.
Runsafer - probaby one of the coolest features of ONLINE ARMOR allows a user logged in as Admin to run a program with lowered rights (like dropmyrights) - but automatically. We added the ability for the user to run a "Safer" program normally, or a normal program "Safer" from inside the program guard.
CPU Limiter added to control runaway processes;
CPU Affinitity control to show which processor a program may use.-ChangeLog
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Target:
apologies for resurrecting a dead thread, but it seems appropriate...
ran across this today on FWT - <a href="http://wareseeker.com/Network-Internet/wfwpam-0.2.zip/427395">WFWPAM</a>
haven't used it, so I can't comment, but there seems to be a lot of people here using the windows firewall so this might be of interest
Help the average user to change and manage settings of the embedded firewall
Is a free tool that can help the average user to change and manage settings of the embedded firewall in Windows XP giving many extra options regarding the firewall
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Target
BinderDundat:
I've been spending time getting to know Comodo Firewall, and I like it a lot, but it does have its drawbacks. What's to like? Well it is probably the best firewall for dealing with malware. Leak test results are better than almost any other firewall - free or not. The HIPS means that the firewall will survive shutdown attempts from any source. It is also configurable. That is also one of its drawbacks. You have to get friendly with writing application rules for both the firewall and the HIPS component to get the most out of it. There are a number of applications that have to be hand-configured to work - like games, xBox units, VPN's, torrent clients, and a bunch of others. It also has fairly light resource usage by comparison to others. That said, it still has a lot of rough edges. There are still a couple of applications that don't work well with Comodo's firewall. NOD32 in its current incarnation uses a proxy to filter all the web pages email through its on-access scanner. That means that all the connections appear as originating from NOD32, so there is no firewall filtering of connections as a result. There is also a problem with a MS VPN connection involving Outlook - something that is more due to the way Outlook handles the connection (proprietary bonding protocol - trust MS to do it their own way) than anything else. The thing to bear in mind is that their firewall is only 3 months out of beta on a complete version change (2.4 to 3.0). I would advise anyone interested in trying it to install the HIPS. It does take a few days of training to reduce the alerts to a reasonable level, but the extra security makes me feel more secure. You can always put the HIPS into training mode for a few days if you are happy that you are not infected. That keeps it quiet while it learns your normal usage patterns.
Armando:
apologies for resurrecting a dead thread, but it seems appropriate...
-Target (February 28, 2008, 12:58 AM)
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No apologies, please! :)
I personally love it when people resurrect dead threads when it's appropriate (and it is). Usually makes it easier to find info on a subject.
taichimaster:
There are still a couple of applications that don't work well with Comodo's firewall. NOD32 in its current incarnation uses a proxy to filter all the web pages email through its on-access scanner. That means that all the connections appear as originating from NOD32, so there is no firewall filtering of connections as a result. -BinderDundat (March 07, 2008, 05:52 PM)
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The NOD32 ekrn proxy doesn't just affect Comodo though. There's been a lot of complaints about it rendering ANY firewall useless.
See: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=192305
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