After rereading through some of the old posts on firewalls I decided I'd better get one back in here so put in ZA again, nice agressive program that I've found fairly easy to configure as its always asking whether you'll allow connections to/from your pc and remembers what you accept etc. I don't mind the small ammount of extra time to feel secure. Seems to work well with Norton AV too (though I think when norton runs out I'm going to go with Avast av which from what I understand is not near the resource hog, at least I'll give it a try as lots of people seem to like it and regard it fairly highly, free too).

Zone Alarm is the best

It's gotta be ZA.

The best firewall for windows is Sygate PF

It offers good protection (when I tested it against ZA & Kerio at PCFlank it cdam out the winner)
And is quite light on the system

For linux, the iptables filtering rules are good enough

Outpost Pro

Yes but Zonealarm is easy to use for those newbies out there

There is NO "best" firewall, however there are some good ones, Kerio, Sygate, Outpost are all pretty good at what they do but none is better than the other except in the opionion of it users.

Then again, the BEST firewall would be Common Sense Firewall Version 1.0

If you use EBay, I suggest you look for a D-LINK. They're actually alot cheaper than most brands, and are pretty good. (Mine is wireless. I don't know if that's what you're looking for or not, but the wireless option is always nice.)

Those intrested in hacking should join up at www.astalavista.net ... Nice stuff...

I may be a bit late (just joined the forums) but I'm going to have to stick with Router Firewalls.

They're pretty amazing when it comes to blocking out things (except if you need to forward ports, do so at your own risk).

If you need to portfoward or have a program full access to the internet via one port make sure you have a backup program running to keep tabs on that port, not only could the program using it get infected, but things could get through.

In any case, if I had to go with software-based firewalling it'd probably have to be PC-Cillin... I know it's cliche, but it adds a firewall that not only has constant updates up the yin-yang but it'll literally tell you what the hell is coming into your comp. (Trust me, not pretty). It eliminates those viruses as well.

Anyhoo, just thought I'd give my broadband router-based opinion.

I'd say Sygate, oh wait, they were bought out and that firewall was killed. Well, I'd have to say Kerio then, oh wait, that firewall has been discontinued.

son sent me zone alarm, and i'm tickled pink with it!

Zone Alarm is great, the Windows one is fine, and if you have a router you shouldn't worry too much...but Zone Alarm is what I would suggest to anyone looking for a firewall.

panda titanuim, um? have to ck into that one. right now i have zone alarm, and so far no problems that i know of. wynette

i dnt have a firewall... i dnt care lol u want to hack me!! GO AHEAD AND TRY!!! xD

kar, get zone alarm now, ya hear? listen to mom

ck mail, never know what's there

Software Firewalls will give you nothing but trouble. You're best bet is to go with a hardware firewall.

I voted for McAfee because they sponsor the Oakland A's Stadium and I am happy with their virus protection.