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.