Comment on Sysopt firewall article

[shadow]

I just read the firewall article and decided to try the Sygate and Conseal. Compared to ZA I did not like them. ZA seems so easy and so effective. I think it's beyond the scope of the average user to configure a firewall like Sygate or Conseal. Conseal cannot even be configured properly on a LAN with file sharing on NetBEUI. ZA makes it all easy and does the job well, and being free surely helps the cause along very well. I would rate ZA as the top dog right now for it's ease of use and it's effectiveness. I had to set Sygate on medium to use ICQ and at that setting it wasnt blocking some things which should be blocked. The only other firewall I use and like is my old AtGuard, it takes some patience too, but at least it's easier. For my dollar I will stick to ZA and will continue to recommend it.

And why is my IE5.01 telling me this page has errors on it lately? Just wondering http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[Gutter Ball]

I find Sygate pretty difficult to understand as well! I tried it and couldn't configure it for anything. So I went back to ZA and got BlackIce!

[Variable]

Before the Sysopt Article I used BlackIce.
I had once tried ZA and grew to really HATE it. What's the sense of a firewall the prohibits the internet explorer of accessing the internet??
Now I installed Sygate and I have to admitt I really like it.
The only Bug I could find is: it doesn't really remember which applications are to be trusted. At every boot up I get an error message that SSDPSRV.EXE is trying to access the network. This is some Win-Exe and I can't get Sygate to ignore it or at least don't bother me with the error message.

cool°
Variable

[Ygor]

Sygate just slowed things down for me and didn't work beyond its' medium setting without freezing.

I've had no problems with ZA. Once you tell it that it's ok for IE to access the internet and check the remember box, works fine!

It was strange to see a few other things trying to access the internet a while back, those are fixed now.

[psyklone]

i've been very happy with the sygate firewall. it is much more configurable than any of the others i've tried. i think it is for that same reason, though, that some may not like it. you actually have to configure it, you don't just install it and let it do everything else.

[Buji]

Open the GUI and click on Config|Application Network Access Policy and set your allowed connections there.

[blazer115]

I have been using Conseal for over 2 years now and it is rated one of the top 3 firewalls

Black Ice has too many security holes in it

Zone alarm works, but uses too muck memory resources

Blazer115

[Variable]

@Buji: I know, I know. And the .exe is even listed there! I don't understand it. That's why I think it's a bug. I don't know.
I don't even know what this file does. But it can't be a virus etc because I just did a clean install for WinME. What's strange too is: I did a clean install on two PC's and I installed Sygate on both. And on one machine Sygate remembered to trust this .exe !
Strange...

cool°
Variable

[daveleau]

I agree with your first statements Variable. I use BID and used ZA and hated it because of its instability and the fact that it will lock out all network traffic after a few hours of running.

I tried Sygate and liked its features but found it difficult to breach for running certain types of server apps. It completely locked that down even though it asked if it as allowed to access the net. BID does not have that issue.

I did like Sygate's permissions for PCAnywhere but it did not like Timbuktu, which I like to use more than PCAnywhere.

So, I am back to BID at least until I drop back to the normal internet using fool that I was a while back. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

I must say though, that I have a hacker friend (has been hacking for years yet is almost half my age! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif) and while I do not condone hacking nor do I do any form of it myself, it is good to get advice from them on security. He said the AtGuard (latest and last version before the sold out to Norton) is still the best and it is what he uses.

Dave

[RobRich]

I had to review using an objective approach to determine which offers the best "all-around" options.

As with everything in life, results vary according with each different user and/or situation.

Later,
Robert Richmond

[daveleau]

Oh RobRich, I was not knocking your review by any means. It brought alot of good things to light. Thanks for the review and keep up the good work. I would be using Sygate if I weren't doing stuff that is outside the parameters of normal web browsing.
Dave

[Richard_Cranium72]

I use ZoneAlarm and recommend it to everyone.

However, yesterday I finished up a HD installation for a pal at work and just for the fun of it checked "System Monitor"

To my Horror the CPU was at 100% the whole time I was on line..

A quick clt+alt+del to cut out "RamBooster" gave me back 40% putting the cpu at 60%.

Then a end task on ZA put me at 20% CPU usage.

This was a old "95 or so generic Pentium 233 w/32RAM so apparently the old girl was taxed pretty well just with Win95 and IE5.01.

I promptly removed RB from the system and disabled the ZA out of the start menu.

I hated to do it, but the poor thing was just tooooo slooowww with the optional software running..

FYI

DrVette

[alondra]

I tried ZA it drove me nuts, maybe I just didnt understand it

[Variable]

@RobRich: Sorry but my posts weren't meant to critize your review of those Firewalls. I think it was great. I for one didn't know there were loop holes in BID. It made me switch to Sygate and I like it except for this "bug". And I thought maybe someone could help me out. (It only happens on one machine.)

BTW Does anyone know what this SSDPSRV.EXE is for?

cool°
Variable