Recently, I have a feeling that something is going on in my system. To prove that it is true, I decided to install a firewall. Having not using any firewall since my Linksys router came into action and the pre-Kerio 2.1.5 era, technology have changed. Sygate got bought over by Symantec(it sucks big time now), Kerio now came under Sunbelt, Outpost was deem to be unstable and it need $$ to operate. Zonealarm get too corny for my taste. Still nothing beat Kerio 2.1.5 packet filtering but it is obsolated.
After a bit of research, I choose Comodo. Its free and of course free forever. A firewall is only as effective and powerful as its user. No point allowing traffic for everything that it prompt you for, might as well not install in the first place. Knowledge of networking is essential in order to configure the rule base. ICMP, IGMP, UDP , TCP ,IP are some of the common protocol to take note off. As usual, application monitor is included as well.
Once the firewall kick active, I caught my first worm/virus. From the look of the it is trying to act up as a server but my router SPF firewall have block it. Having anti-virus is not a surefire way to protect against mal-ware. The rest is customising of the rules and ready to go.
Pro: Free! Average resource usage. Allow for custom rules.
Con: No password lock down. 1st timer may get a culture shock as it is not as noob friendly as Zonealarm. Like I said Zonealarm is corny!
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