Best Firewall?

[b3six]

I'm looking for a really good software firwall right now I have zonealarm but I'm looking for a replacement since my bittorrent files take forever to download with 1-10kb speeds (took me 6 hrs to get a WoW patch ). I dont care if the firewall costs money aslong as its a really good 1. I checked the Consolidated Security Thread and all I saw was info on free firewalls and I would like info on all firewalls
Thanks

 

[nweaver]

Buy a Cisco Pix, that is (imho) the best firewall you can buy

one of the best "software" firewalls (again, based on my experience) is IPtables

 

[meltdown75]

your speed issue when downloading using bit torrent may be related to something else...

i have ZA installed and my leeching is quite fast, usually over 150k/second depending on the file and number of seeders.

if you have a router, be sure to configure the port forwarding to optimize your downloading potential.

 

[b3six]

I dont have a router so I dont think that is it.. is there a way to open ports with zonealarm? maybe ill try that..

 

[Diasper]

I might suggest it's your ISP throttling P2P traffic. Certainly in the UK quite alot do it over here.

I'm pretty damn certain it's not Zonealarm given as countless numbers of people have used the two together and not had what you have - I can count myself in that.

I might also ask if you're using peerguardian or any other IP blocking stuff.
Similiarly, I might suggest you check your bittorrent client settings including share ratio - which client are you using and have you tried others?

 

[sourceninja]

The best firewall will be a hardware firewall. Try building a small box and running m0n0wall or ipcop.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Packetfilter is the best firewall out there right now, no contest. If you want to run something on a lesser OS though, get Checkpoint Firewall-1. It's ok.

 

[ChiPCGuy]

I tried the latest version of ZoneAlarm and it SUCKS. There are serious issues with it--randomly unable to connect to the internet unless I reboot, for example. Read some of the forums traffic and also the reviews at download.com--this firewall is going down hill. I unloaded ZoneAlarm and then my system went back to normal...had to continue using the XP Firewall (although I have a SPI firewall router, I think you still need a good software firewall to monitor outbound connections). I, on a recommendation, have downloaded and am now using Kerio Personal Firewall and it is great--not quite as many bells/whistles or as pretty as ZA, but definitely less resource intensive and does what it is suppose to do. It does not register in the Security Center in XP SP2, so you will have disable the XP firewall manually. The link to Kerio is: http://www.kerio.com/new/kpf_overview.html

Good luck to you.

 

[KoolDrew]

At host-level the XP SP2 firewall is more then adequate.

 

[Lyfer]

I use Kerio, simple and very effective.

 

[b3six]

Originally posted by: Diasper
I might suggest it's your ISP throttling P2P traffic. Certainly in the UK quite alot do it over here.

I'm pretty damn certain it's not Zonealarm given as countless numbers of people have used the two together and not had what you have - I can count myself in that.

I might also ask if you're using peerguardian or any other IP blocking stuff.
Similiarly, I might suggest you check your bittorrent client settings including share ratio - which client are you using and have you tried others?

It could be ISP throttling P2P traffic but I'm not sure how I would ask them a question about that. I'm also using peer guardian 2 and bitcomet which is getting me up to about 30kb. The client I usually use is BitTornado. here is some info from BitComet
Connected Seeds: 2 (Max Possible: 2)
Connected Peers: 55 (Max Possible: 12431)
Download Rate: 36kb/s from 21 Peers
Upload Rate: 46kb to 14 Peers
Average Download Rate: 26kb within 24:07:50
Average Upload Rate: 39kb within 24:07:50

in the Connection settings I have "Enable DHT Network" "Enable NAT/Firewall Configuration in ICS/ICF (XP Only)" and "Enable UPnP Port Mapping (XP only)" all checked. Does anyone know what these do?

 

[n0cmonkey]

"Enable UPnP Port Mapping (XP only)" should turn on upnp. upnp is a horrible thing that opens up ports (forwards them to the desktop I guess) on a router (if it supports upnp) upon request.

 

[b3six]

between packetfilter and kerio which 1 would be the best or is there another software firewall I should be considering?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Use kerio, it's probably easier.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: b3six
between packetfilter and kerio which 1 would be the best or is there another software firewall I should be considering?

The XP SP2 firewall...

 

[b3six]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Use kerio, it's probably easier.

but which has better protection and why? I have alot of files that are really important and dont have enough time to be backing up my files on my external HD everytime i save

 

[b3six]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew

Originally posted by: b3six
between packetfilter and kerio which 1 would be the best or is there another software firewall I should be considering?

The XP SP2 firewall...

Somewhere on this forum had a page posted about how there some problems with ti so I decided not to try that 1

 

[BW86]

Kerio v215

 

[SinNisTeR]

Originally posted by: nweaver
Buy a Cisco Pix, that is (imho) the best firewall you can buy

one of the best "software" firewalls (again, based on my experience) is IPtables

Another vote for pix