Vista Firewall Control

Vista Firewall Control

Windows Vista's firewall is better than the one built into Windows XP because it includes outbound protection as well as inbound protection. Outbound protection is vital, because Trojan horses and spyware often use silent outbound connections to do their damage. In addition, some surreptitious software uses invisible outbound connection from your PC to send out spam or malware without your knowling it.

The Windows Vista firewall has one big problem, though: The outbound firewall is almost impossible to configure. The free Vista Firewall Control utility gives you the control that Vista should have. With it, whenever a program attempts to make an outbound connection, an alert appears, identifying the application's path and file name, the publisher's name, and the application's name. Based on what you see, you can then choose to enable or disable the connection permanently or one time only.

Download Vista Firewall Control | Price: Free

Comodo Firewall Pro

Comodo Firewall Pro

If you have Windows XP or Windows Vista, you have a firewall on your PC courtesy of Microsoft, so you may figure that you're perfectly safe. Wrong--the firewalls built into both of those operating systems have problems. The Windows XP firewall, for example, lacks outbound protection. And the Windows Vista firewall is exceedingly difficult to customize.

A great bet for a truly flameproof firewall is the free Comodo Firewall. It offers great protection against both inbound and outbound threats, along with some very nice extras. Its Defense+ feature, for example, locks down particularly vulnerable files and folders so that nothing can alter them.

If you use this firewall, you will have to spend a bit of time training it. Whenever an application tries to access the Internet from your PC, you'll get a pop-up that asks you whether you want to allow the application to proceed. If you'd like to cut down on the training time and the number of interruptions, use the program's Clean PC mode. In this mode, Comodo scans your PC for applications and registers them as safe. Afterward, you won't see as many alerts.

Among Comodo's other nice extras is an install mode that shuts off the firewall for 15 minutes, so you can install a new application without getting inundated with alerts.

Download Comodo Firewall Pro | Price: Free

Zone Alarm Free

ZoneAlarm Free http://www.zonealarm.com
Windows The free edition remains a useful
protector against hack attacks and
against programs that abuse your Internet
connection.

SmoothWall Express

SmoothWall Express
http://www.smoothwall.org
Linux Got a spare PC running a Pentium
200 MHz or higher with 128MB of RAM?
Turn it into a dedicated network fi rewall
with this open-source download.

Shields UP

ShieldsUP! http://www.grc.com
Windows Web Be sure your fire walls are
keeping your always-on Internet connection
hidden from attackers. Shields UP!
provides a quick confi rmation

Comodo Firewall Pro

Comodo Firewall Pro
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com
Windows This protective dragon for XP
and Vista keeps hackers out of your system,
controls which programs can access
the Net (its whitelist of about one million
means you get fewer pop-ups), and
blocks tricky “leak test” techniques. It’s
both tough and good-looking.