Zone Alarm (Windows)
Zone Alarm is a free (for personal use) personal firewall available for download from http://www.zonelabs.com
It is simple to install and configure, and provides reasonable information
on any alerts that it may give. As such it is suitable for those who want
quick and easy protection without wanting to get involved in the nitty
gritty of configuration and TCP/IP protocols.
There is a virus (Magistr-b) that will disable ZoneAlarm, but the user would
have to execute a mail attachment or other infected program for this to happen
(anyone concerned about security should be running up to date anti-virus software
anyway!).
Once installed, ZA will warn the user if any program tries to connect to the
internet without permission (thus providing protection against spyware or trojan's
that try to "phone home"). It can also block unauthorised external access to
the computer.
ZA is probably the most popular personal firewall, mainly due to it's price and ease of use.
Pro : Easy to use, no specialist knowledge required.Pro : Free for personal use.
Pro : Protects against Trojan's communicating over the internet.
Con : Can be disabled if you execute the Magistr-b virus.
Zone Alarm Professional (Windows)
This is the paid-for version of ZA, it has all the features as above along with:
Mailsafe -this will change the filename extension of any potentially dangerous e-mail attachments so that they cannot be executed immediately.
Pro : Easy to use, no specialist knowledge required.Pro : Protects against Trojan's communicating over the internet.
Pro : Protects against incoming malicious e-mail attachments
Con : Can be disabled if you execute the Magistr-b virus.
Con : Price
Tiny Personal Firewall (Windows)
This is a free (for personal use) personal firewall available from http://www.tinysoftware.com
Tiny is a very configurable, rule-based firewall providing excellent protection but requiring some knowledge of TCP/IP protocols and networking. as such, it is suited to the more experienced user or those wanting to learn more about firewalls and their configuration. The more flexible/technical nature of the configuration does mean that there is more room for errors though.
Pro : Very configurable.Pro : Free for personal use.
Pro : Rule based, good tool for learning more about firewalls.
Pro : Administration can be password protected.
Con : Some knowledge of TCP/IP and firewall rules required.
Con : More room for errors in configuration.
Smoothwall (LINUX)
Free (apart from the 23MB download), Linux-based firewall which runs on
a dedicated machine.
Pro : Free
Pro : Straightforward installation (about 15 minutes)
Pro : Allows sharing of an internet connection between mutiple computers
Pro : Remotely managed via web browser interface
Pro : Doesn't use up processing power on your PC
Pro : Has many of the features of the expensive commercial firewall packages.
Con : Requires an additional (albeit low spec) PC
Con : Some knowledge of basic networking required.
Commercial Firewalls
These are beyond the scope of this FAQ, but for anyone looking for information on them, these are the current market leaders...
Checkpoint FW-1 www.checkpoint.com
Cisco Pix www.cisco.com