Answer Question
Suggestions for a Great Software Firewall
I currently have a hardware firewall from a router on my home network, but there are up to five other computers routinely on our network. Since those computers are not run by people who are necessarily particularly careful or computer savvy, there is always the possibility that one of them is compromised, so I do not get any protection from the hardware firewall. In particular, if one of their computers is owned by a hacker, the hacker could easily probe the internal network. For example, it might notice that its IP address is 192.168.0.5 and it might check 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.0.2 until it had found a computer, and then start probing. I figure that the hardware firewall in itself is not sufficient.
I am extra careful about security right now because I have had a bunch of alarms about viruses on my laptop. My computer comes out as clean under various scans, and I cannot think of anything else to do to make sure that it is cleaner, but I definitely want to be very careful. For this reason, I have a slight preference for a firewall that detects outgoing traffic. However, the preference is not that strong, and Windows Firewall is something I would consider.
I would also use this computer on a very large university network. There are many, many users behind the firewall for that network and I can only assume that a significant number of them have been completely compromised so that there is a good chance that there will be attacks from behind the firewall on that network as well. Thus, though I love my hardware firewall, I think that I need some sort of software firewall in addition.
So, do you have any suggestions for a stand-alone firewall? I am really only interested in a software firewall, and am looking for something that is not bloat ware, and that is not going to come with lots of extra programs that are always running in the background; yet, at the same time, it should provide first rate protection from attacks. I have a serious virus checker (NOD32) and would love a software firewall that will compliment that nicely.
It would be very helpful if you could include with your suggestion links to different sites that review the product and compare it to other similar products.
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