- Oct 16, 2014
- 403
- 1
- 4,860
Please don't suggest Windows Firewall. While this might work for the majority of users, it doesn't work for me. The reason is simple, it's tedious to configure. It will either ALLOW outgoing connections by default, or BLOCK outgoing connections by default. If I select ALLOW, almost everything is allowed some level of internet access. If i select DENY, I need to configure a rule or else everything is BLOCKED. To make matters worse, there's no pop-up asking me to define a rule when an unknown application attempts internet access- the firewall auto-decides based on global configuration whether to allow or deny network to the application, and I have to go to control panel and skim thru thousands of lines of rules to find the one i need and define appropriate settings.
My requirement is simple. I want a simple firewall with ZERO extra features. I hate comodo's HIPS and ALWAYS disable it. Sandboxing is useless to me, as I don't run untrusted software from the internet anyway. I just want a vanilla firewall that will ALLOW or BLOCK network connection from different applications, nothing else.
Another VERY IMPORTANT requirement is that the firewall should give me complete control and put me in command. When a new application is installed, it should not look up a database of trusted applications and automatically allow network access if it thinks it's a safe application- it should always ASK ME WHAT TO DO. The reason for this is- I don't want every trusted application to access the internet. Say VLC player. It's a trusted application. And if the firewall is allowed to auto-decide, it'll allow VLC network access. I don't want VLC to access the network, as I never ever perform "in-place upgrades" (always download a fresh copy of the installer.exe manually from the official site, and install it on a planned schedule). Neither do I use VLC to watch network streams. I just use it to play local files, and I don't want it to "phone home" every time I launch it.
At present, m using Comodo firewall 7.xxxx, and a version 8.xxxx is available. M about to upgrade. Should I keep using Comodo? Or is there something better (less resources required, no irritating HIPS features-which I have turned off in my current comodo, no sandboxing features).
I use Avira free antivirus, and the Firewall you suggest has to be compatible with it.
My OS is Win 8.1 (64), fully updated (except for the "GET Windows 10" set of updates, AND the "Diagnostics Tracking Service" update).
Thanks in advance for your replies.
My requirement is simple. I want a simple firewall with ZERO extra features. I hate comodo's HIPS and ALWAYS disable it. Sandboxing is useless to me, as I don't run untrusted software from the internet anyway. I just want a vanilla firewall that will ALLOW or BLOCK network connection from different applications, nothing else.
Another VERY IMPORTANT requirement is that the firewall should give me complete control and put me in command. When a new application is installed, it should not look up a database of trusted applications and automatically allow network access if it thinks it's a safe application- it should always ASK ME WHAT TO DO. The reason for this is- I don't want every trusted application to access the internet. Say VLC player. It's a trusted application. And if the firewall is allowed to auto-decide, it'll allow VLC network access. I don't want VLC to access the network, as I never ever perform "in-place upgrades" (always download a fresh copy of the installer.exe manually from the official site, and install it on a planned schedule). Neither do I use VLC to watch network streams. I just use it to play local files, and I don't want it to "phone home" every time I launch it.
At present, m using Comodo firewall 7.xxxx, and a version 8.xxxx is available. M about to upgrade. Should I keep using Comodo? Or is there something better (less resources required, no irritating HIPS features-which I have turned off in my current comodo, no sandboxing features).
I use Avira free antivirus, and the Firewall you suggest has to be compatible with it.
My OS is Win 8.1 (64), fully updated (except for the "GET Windows 10" set of updates, AND the "Diagnostics Tracking Service" update).
Thanks in advance for your replies.
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