I suggest everyone check out Online Armor, its a great firewall, and, according to this website anyway, is rated one of the best, been using it for a few weeks now and I'm really impressed, check it out....
These firewall tests have some interesting results....
http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-p...sts-results.php
Online Armor homepage- http://www.online-armor.com/online_armor_free.html
Oh yeah, and its freeware!
Oh yeah, notice what firewall came dead last with a zero rating? Windows Firewall XP SP2, I knew it was crap but didnt realize it does nothing!
Well seeing as how the windows firewall has zero outbound protection at all it shouldn't be a shock that it doesn't pass leak tests.
The windows firewall passes where it counts for most people(inbound) and does so without slowing down your system or causing conflicts.
OA is a good program but there is no need to post inaccurate stuff like this. Your right that its dead last in leak tests but wrong in saying that it does nothing.
Plus this has already been discussed numerous times on this forum.
I changed Windows Firewall for Online Armor a while back, and Online is indeed an excellent firewall, although I only changed as I was curious to see which programs were trying to launch others, and which were trying to connect to the web.
Windows Firewall as inbound protection, is, IMHO, probably as good as it gets, and sails through so called "stealth tests".
Windows Firewall as inbound protection, is, IMHO, probably as good as it gets, and sails through so called "stealth tests".
Indeed. I think many people don't realize that with the proper anti-malware software installed and with occasional scanning with those anti-malware apps that third party firewalls aren't totally necessary. I just wish I had adopted Windows Firewall much earlier in my WinXP experience because it doesn't cause a host of problems.