I am little bit confused for the best firewall for my OS.its windows XP...Any opinions and suggestions will be helpful...thanks for the help in advance...

I use Zone Alarm. It's free and it won't slow your system down. Plus it works great. I have a networking degree and it's what I use on my computers. Go to www.grc.com and look for Shields Up. It will test your firewall and tell you if there are any open ports on your computer. It's free.


Joe

The best firewall is hardware. Put a router between your modem and your computer and you won't even need a software firewall (but I use both, more due to superstition than logic). If you use a LAN or have gone wireless, you probably already have a router involved.

I use comodo http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Just plugging in a router won't protect you unless you understand your routers security. Most new routers allow you to configure some security , read the manual.

The best firewall is hardware. Put a router between your modem and your computer and you won't even need a software firewall (but I use both, more due to superstition than logic). If you use a LAN or have gone wireless, you probably already have a router involved.

A router or HW Firewall will only protect you from unsolicited incoming communications, it won't prevent you downloading something nasty if you instigate the communication, and it won't prevent anything that you've "invited" onto your computer from "phoning home".

Ideally you should have both a hardware (router) and a software firewall.

Below are a few Freeware firewalls.

I don't recommend Zone Alarm since it started shipping with the Ask Toolbar, this adds nothing to your security, and is from a company with a less than savoury history. It's not named as such by ZA (they call it protection toolbar or something to that effect), but that's what it is. If you really want to use ZA, uncheck the option on install, it is checked by default.

If you have already installed it, the Toolbar can be removed separately using Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs

Also the latest version of that programme has a lot of instability problems and has crashed more than one machine.


Agnitum Outpost FIrewall (http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpostfree/download.php)
Comodo (http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/)
Jetico Personal Firewall (http://www.jetico.com/)
R-Firewall (http://www.r-firewall.com/)
Soft perfect (http://www.softperfect.com/products/firewall/)
Sunbelt Kerio Firewall (http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio-Download.cfm)

It is important to note that you should only have one firewall installed at a time, but you can download to your Desktop and install each in turn to see which one you prefer.

Any firewall is useless if it isn't configured. I can't tell you how many time I have seen someone install a router, and think that they are fully protected. Most routers come by default with most of the security turned off. Unless you turn it on, it doesn't help. Same thing for software firewalls, if they are disabled, they are no help. I have even seen people install a wireless router, turn on the wireless, and leave it completly wide open. This is like buying a safe and not only do you not lock it, but you put out a sign to advertise its presence.

Which is the best? I am not sure that you can really say any particular one is the best. I currently use Kaspersky. They have regular updates, support, and the firewall has a training mode, which makes it easier for you to determine what you want to allow access to, even if you don't know the technical details. You can disable it temporarily, and have it automatically reset for you. Although it isn't free, I feel it's well worth the cost of a subscription.

Look around and pick what works for you.