Zen Internet Support Forum

> I prefer to have a software firewall as well to stop outbound traffic.

That's the only use I can think of for a software firewall.

However, if you have something malicious attempting an outbound connection then you are screwed anyway as, by that point, it's got full access to your machine ...

All, well mostly all!, legitimate software that 'calls home' (usually just to check for updates) will tell you it's doing it (and how to turn it off) if you bother to read the docs.   But, for that, I have probably the most useful utility there is installed, namely WinPatrol.   This will warn you (and let you stop) of all attempts to insert 'applets' that do this.

Conclusion: still no need to have a software firewall.

A user so inexperienced as to be unable to set up a router correctly (basically all you have to be able to do is read, you don't need any technical knowledge these days) will be equally unable to set up a software firewall correctly.

In which case I'd put my money on the router being more secure for such a user anyway.

I'm fully aware that people will naturally take the easiest route (no pun intended), the one of least resistance, the least trouble.   And deserve all they get.

The whole anti-virus/spyware and firewall industry is manipulating one of the basic human emotions: fear.    It's a long and very successful technique for parting people from their money.   It's marketing at its best (or worst, depending on your viewpoint).

pwhyles:

Conclusion: still no need to have a software firewall.

I still prefer to use one!

Well chaps,

I have decided to ditch Norton and I am going to give CA's security suite a try.

 Cheers

 gdl

> I still prefer to use one!

We all have our little foibles.

Have you ever unistalled it and cleaned system and registry of Symantec and Norton?

Then re-install using the disk you aready have. ;) ;)

NOD32 AV and Firewall is the best one out there, uber low footprint and it does exactly what it says on the tin, norton has been bad for years and personally I cannot understand why people still buy it especially with all the bad press it has on the net.

If anyone is looking for AV and Firewall, google nod32 and see how good it is.

 

Hello,

My advise as regards any software program is to try it and see if it behaves as needed. ALL the software on my system free-ware, share-ware or boxed licensed applications have been tried & tested in this way. Anything that doesn't do what I need it to gets ditched pretty soon.

**What software you use is totally a personal choice, make your own mind up from experience is my view. But not all software is equal some software is extremely well written & conceived and others poorly written & clunky.

Ivan 

The risk with 'trying' Norton is that you can never get rid of it from your computer.

It's the worst kind of PC parasite - not to mention resource hog.

pintosal:

The risk with 'trying' Norton is that you can never get rid of it from your computer.

It's the worst kind of PC parasite - not to mention resource hog.

I have done it many times, it's a little harder than just clicking add remove but not that hard.

Start with add/remove.

Download the Norton removal tool and run it.

Start up regedit, do a search for Norton and symantec and delete anything related to Norton.

Do the above again as you will have missed some, there is quite a bit.

Do a search of the drive Norton was installed on for Norton and Symantec, delete what you find.

Reboot and it's all gone.

And yes I use Norton, I have had one virus in 10 years on the net.

Hi,

Not wanting to comment further on how good or bad Norton products are, But what I do find incredible about Symantec is they must be almost the only software company that create programs that once installed are made so impossibly difficult to remove.

**I get the strong impression for Symantec that once you have installed their product they don't want you to legitimately remove it i.e. how dare you remove our software!!!???. They sure as hell make it difficult for the average user to do so.   

**Why? should a user have to go online and visit the Symantec website (trying to sell you another product no doubt, or am I just being very cynical here?) and search the site for a tool that allows them to finally un-install a program they paid for? It makes zero sense to me. Its almost a sign of sheer desperation from Symantec.

**If a software maker cannot make their program as easy to uninstall as it is to install I just don't want to know, thats a BIG negative for me. Look life is too short to be fannying around searching for special un-install tools, Why Symantec cannot just create an ordinary uninstall routine for their products is beyond me. They have lost my custom because of this and greed high prices on subscription services. In contrast to other AV products that offer the same or better for 100% free-ware. (i.e. FREE AVG anti virus for example).

Ivan 

I feel the need to join this forum since pwhyles is very well spoken and obviously quite respected, but so horribly wrong!

Firstly, "you are screwed anyways as it owns your machine" is inaccurate, if you see it trying to make a strange connection and your anti-virus didn't pick it up then you block it; you may well have just stopped it from mailing your bank details to joe hacker inc from the Russian Federation. And you know it just tried to mail something to carded.unixshell.com. So you know you have malware and you have just disabled it from doing anything. Or rather, I would; with Outpost running. Phwhyles would find out when his bank statement arrived. Some malware is very stealthy and inserts itself in the most obscure of places. There is no guarantee it will modify your registry or do something else WinPatrol will catch.

So for that reason alone it's a good thing to have. As a detection system for malware and a last line of defense.

Obviously if any of your software is not so legitimate there is another fine reason to have one...

And finally Outpost and possibly other software firewalls have many of the same sorts of monitoring function as WinPatrol. Though in the past I've used them both; if I had to pick just one I'd rather have the software firewall.

If you want a software firewall for free try this one, it seems quite good.

http://www.comodo.com/

And even more:

FREE Comodo Firewall
FREE Comodo Anti-Malware
FREE Website Authentication
FREE Comodo AntiVirus
FREE Email Security Certificate