free ware firewall , what is the best firewall software ?

What is the best free ware firewall software available

Of course there are a few free firewalls around, we have covered the ones we think offer the most at the bottom of the page, but pretty much all of these are really cut down versions of the their non free big brothers.

If your computer is connected to the Internet a Firewall is a must , it basically stops anyone from accessing your computer from the internet

So what makes a good firewall ? There are a number of factors to consider such as

Ease of use
How good is the protection
Is it free if not why should I purchase as opposed to a free solution
How compatible is it with other software such as anti virus & antispyware
How intelligent is it
How does it cope with Internet Connection Sharing
Will it slow my pc down

Ease of use

It must be intuitive and easy to use, install and your off and running, the Windows SP2 firewall is pretty good, but the main gripe, it's not too user friendly

How good is the protection ?

As well as blocking incoming security threats does it also block outgoing ?

Is it free if not why should I purchase as opposed to a free solution

If you checkout any free ware firewall software, the chances are it will be the basic cut down version of the full product. You can usually trying the full version free for 30 days,

and it will convert to the cut down free version after a month, if you like it then purchase, in my opinion the extra features are definitely worth the cost.

How compatible is it with other software such as anti virus & antispyware

If you firewall keeps reporting that an application is trying to access the internet again and again ,

even after you've added it to a safe list, this can be a real pain, this sometimes happens when an application is updated, not a major problem, but if it's an application that updates frequently then, prepare for a lot of clicking

How intelligent is it

Some fire-wall software is definitely more intelligent than some others ,

some will recognise a genuine windows application trying to access the internet , while others don't seem to be able to , then will continuously keep asking whether to deny or allow access.

How does it cope with Internet Connection Sharing

If like myself you use ICS or Internet Connection Sharing through Windows XP then having a firewall that keeps blocking you from picking up an IP address or from using the internet connection can be a nightmare,

you dare not go on the Internet without a firewall but what can you do when you check everything again and again and it is still very temperamental,

Before I found a decent Firewall Package that allowed this without messing around, I have literally tried a eight different ones.

Will it slow my pc down?

Of course you need to have the Firewall loaded before your Internet connection is running, but why do some of them take so long,

I've known people who have scrapped certain Firewall software due to it taking so long to load when the computer is switched on.

Of all the fire-wall software packages we've used , we recommend the following for the above factors.

some of the best trial and free ware firewall software

Mcafee

Kerio

Zone Alarm

Windows XP Personal free ware firewall " comes with service pack 2 " " the main thing is it's free, it's not the most user friendly of firewalls " Which is why we've put together a page helping you to install and configure it ..

If you need windows XP service pack 2 you can get this from our xp update article, this will give you the latest windows XP firewall

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