Firewall

From Windowsxp

There are quite a few firewalls available for Windows XP. I consider Jetico Personal Firewall to be the best, however, it's rather complex. Several popular firewalls are reviewed below, with a preference toward free firewalls.

Several factors are considered in judging whether a firewall is acceptable. One is leak testing: how easily programs already on your computer can circumvent the firewall's protection. More importantly, the security of the firewall from outside sources is considered.

I use the criteria below. Click each criterion for a definition of what it means.

Jetico Personal Firewall v1

License: Free

Rating

  • Firewall Security: Excellent
  • Strength against Leak Tests: Very Good
  • Port Stealthing: Full Stealth
  • Ease of Use: Advanced

Summary

Overall, my favorite firewall. This firewall has excellent port stealthing: in my tests, all ports were successfully stealthed.

Leaks

Leaks are generally not the greatest of concerns, but Matousec.com rated as "Very Good" in its overall list of firewalls [1]. This is probably due to the high degree of user input the firewall requires. Coincidentally, that's what makes it complex.


External Links An advanced guide to rules in Jetico.


Comodo Personal Firewall

Personal tools