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Ok I know that a linux firewall is the best, but I don't have the time or patience to configure it
I used to use Tiny Personal Firewall 2.0 and it was perfect until I switched to XP, then it started blocking file sharing packets even when I tell it not to
Tried upgrading to TPF 5.5, but the interface was so confusing, and certain ports weren't even blocked.
Using Sygate Firewall 5.5 Pro right now, and it is perfect except for 2 things: CPU usage and Latencies. I turned off all logs, yet CPU usage is almost 90% when for transfering files over LAN, due to the firewall. I turned off it completely, and usage goes back down to ~30% or so. The program also tends to lag things up by 1ms. When I ping my dsl router, I get 1ms with the firewall on, 0ms with it off....
There are SO many firewall progs out there, which one combines Sygate's functionality and security with Tiny Personal Firewall's low CPU usage?
Thanks
Abit KR7A-Raid
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Personally I tent to shy away from running personal firewall’s on the local machine. You mentioned above about Linux, there are a number of distributions out there dedicated to being a firewall/router. I recommend SmoothWall, it’s pretty easy to setup. All you need an old comp 486 up to 400 MHz and two NICs. They have pretty detailed manuals if you need them, check it out. The GUI installation makes it easy. http://www.smoothwall.org If you’re still leaning towards a software firewall, use the one that comes with XP. XP’s firewall only blocks incoming packets like a router but it does the job. If I didn’t have a choice I would run the XP firewall, I’m not the kind of person to use 3rd party software if windows can do it.
