I am looking for no install firewall.

[kartal]

I hate man of those firewalls that insall many services and other stuff. They most feel bloated. Can anyone recommend no install firewall (especially for xp64)

thanks

[Shades]

Some interesting links to help you on your way:
http://wipfw.sourceforge.net/  (the software comes in 64-bit edition as well)
http://www.fwbuilder.org/ (aid for configuring wipfw)

As a bonus, wipfw also allows for traffic shaping.

Regarding bloatware: the archive containing wipfw is a fully blown and gigantic 65Kbyte 

[lanux128]

i'm not sure of no-install requirement but these look quite light..

• AS3 Personal Firewall
• SoftPerfect Personal Firewall

also check out these threads for more pointers.

• http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=6059.0
• http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1695.0

[kartal]

Lanux128 I have already looked that those topics and I have been trying as3 as well.

I will check out sofperfect asap

[kartal]

Another one I have found is

http://sourceforge.net/projects/dcfirewall/

[f0dder]

Router with NAT + Windows Firewal,l and you're all set... isn't much reason for using anything else, really.

[40hz]

Router with NAT + Windows Firewal,l and you're all set... isn't much reason for using anything else, really.

I agree. A cheap hardware router will block anything you're likely to encounter that wants to come in from the outside. Pair that with a basic inbound firewall and a good anti-malware app and you're pretty much bulletproof.

Just be careful with e-mail attachments and software downloads. If you're careless about them, then might want some outbound protection as well. Online Armour is a good one to try. Less "in your face" than some of the others.
Download from:

http://www.tallemu.com/free-firewall-protection-software.html

[kartal]

I have a router with a base firewall embedded. I am mainly worried about malicious net activity of the apps I use. I am just looking for an easier software that will show me what is going in in my system.

[Carol Haynes]

Probably the answer is not to use dodgy software you can't trust.

At the end of the day the function of a firewall is to stop people getting in. It is nice if Firewall's stop data leaking too but from what I have encountered (and the reviews I have read) very few firewalls actually achieve this ... most seem to fail even simple leaktests even when they say they block unauthorised outbound traffic. The only ones that apparently pass leaktests seem to be very heavy on resources and particularly intrusive in use.

At the end of the day if something nasty gets on your system it is pratically impossible to stop it forcing a connection to the outside world.

I spent so long looking for a firewall that did the works without making it impossible to use the computer that I eventually gave up. Now I use a Netgear NAT router with a hardware firewall and just let Windows Firewall run in XP. If you use Vista the Windows Firewall is supposed to be even better and have some outbound blocking. I haven't been aware of any issues with this setup but I do have a machine that is considerably less bogged down and much zippier and I am not irritated by blizzards of prompt windows that become so annoying that eventually you just end up saying 'yes' to every one just to get your life back!

[f0dder]

What carol said

Outbound protection is, unfortunately, pretty much a pipe dream - even if it seems like a nice idea. There's just too many ways for malware to catch a free ride to the highway. The only real efficient outbound protection is from a hardware firewall that traffic *has* to flow through (so, basically on a router) - and even that has the problem like not knowing which application the traffic comes from, so it can only block on ports and (if sophisticated) protocol level. But it's possible to smuggle contraband data in a perfectly legitimate looking HTTP request, so...

[Shades]

I totally concur with f0dder (and Carol), which is the reason I mentioned the IP tables thing. With that you can (dynamically) filter out whatever kind of packets you like from the incoming and/or outgoing traffic.

Although you have to be careful when configuring, it will increase your safety if it is properly setup. The bonus is the traffic shaping, that also reduces the "noise/chatter" on your network.

Personally I have a hard time believing it, but when I copy stuff from my personal system to my linux (samba) backup server using Total copy (explorer extension) it reaches a speed of 12Mbyte/sec through my 100Mbit network. Vice versa it goes to 10.5Mbyte/sec.

[kartal]

Thanks guys. I will check out additional bioses for my router to see if any custom bios offer extra security and firewall.

[Carol Haynes]

Routers don't have to be expensive and the technology is improving all the time. If you can't get a BIOS that serves get a new router - you may even be able to get one free or discounted from your ISP! (At least lots of UK ISPs provide routers).

[40hz]

You can always bop over to www.grc.com and run the well known ShieldsUP to see what ports are "open" on your current setup.

ShieldsUp is probably more entertaining than useful, but at least it will give you some general insight into what ports do what if you're new to the firewall game.

If you're really paranoid, and you don't mind a little tinkering, you can roll your own industrial strength firewall/router combo by taking a look at any of the following. They're absolute overkill for a home network (and they suffer from the same security weaknesses discussed above) but they are available if you want to further your own education.

SmoothWall  http://smoothwall.org
PFSense      http://pfsense.org
m0n0wall     http://www.m0n0.ch/wall