Moderators DennisD Posted April 9, 2007 Moderators Share Posted April 9, 2007 Thought some of you might be interested in recent problems with PCTools firewall. First thing was my 100% stealth just suddenly disappeared without changing any settings. Not a real problem in itself, but I started getting programmes having to close for no apparent reason. Had no idea the firewall was causing the problem until it started hanging as well. Uninstalled it, and every problem disappeared. Just using windows firewall for now. Not sure whether to reinstall PCTools, or find another freeware substitute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted April 9, 2007 Moderators Share Posted April 9, 2007 I haven't been using it, so I haven't seen the bugs. Your probably just as well off with the windows firewall as anything to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted April 9, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted April 9, 2007 I haven't been using it, so I haven't seen the bugs. Your probably just as well off with the windows firewall as anything to be honest. I've actually been thinking that for a while. I do regular virus and spyware scans, so I'm not really fussed about what comes out, more bothered about what comes down, and I think I'm well protected against that. I'm using Avast, and I have the network shield active, and that's actually stopped stuff that the firewall didn't register, or it stopped it before the firewall got the chance. Which did what don't really matter as long as keeps me clean. And I've just confirmed again that windows firewall is still 100% stealth. Gonna stick with windows and Avast, but I'll post if this combo fails in any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_L Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 I'm still using their version 1.0 since I saw on the PC Tools forum that many were having problems with the new version. I'm not all that savvy with computers so I'm sticking with what works. My only gripe about version 1.0 is that it fails Shields Up's ping test, although so does the Windows Firewall, and sadly I don't know how to make it pass that particular test. Oh, and I'm unable to access the internet using Firefox Portable off a USB drive unless I turn the PC Tools firewall off. Not really a problem since I only use the USB drive at work and I only use Firewall Plus at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted April 10, 2007 Moderators Share Posted April 10, 2007 I'm using Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall from now on after I discovered certain problems in WinXP when for instance theming is momentarily loss and perhaps some other problem/bug in the OS and Windows restarts explorer.exe or whatever process. I noticed it causes Windows Firewall to become disabled and can't be restarted in the current Windows session, thus causing a system restart is necessary. Plus Windows Firewall is just to easy to disable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted April 10, 2007 Moderators Share Posted April 10, 2007 My only gripe about version 1.0 is that it fails Shields Up's ping test, although so does the Windows Firewall, and sadly I don't know how to make it pass that particular test. It could be because of your ISP and how they have things configured, in my case I'm 100% sure it's because of my ISP and there's nothing I can do about it in my situation. All software firewalls I've tried fail that test on GRC.com, but I take it with a grain of salt since there's other firewall tests available for free: HackerWatch.org Firewall Tests PC Flank Internet Security Tests Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators rridgely Posted April 10, 2007 Moderators Share Posted April 10, 2007 kerio is a nice light firewall. The new version is really easy to use and has very few annoying notifications compared to most other firewalls. I used kerio for a pretty long time on one of my computers compared to the other programs I use(probably over a year) and it never gave me any problems. I'm constantly trying new ones though just so I can say whats good and more importantly whats not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humpty Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Yep I had probs with the latest PCtools firewall and went back to 1.0, thanks to rridgely for uploading the installer for me. I have never been able to get full stealth at GRC with any FW and this must be that my hardware FW is getting in the way. I really only need a light FW for outbound which PCtools FW 1.0 does quite well and I intend sticking with it even if they iron out all the bugs in the latest version. Hate uninstalling - reinstalling for a new version anyways, especially when everything is running fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted April 10, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted April 10, 2007 Appreciate all the input guys, and thanks for those links Andavari. For now I'm sticking with Windows Firewall, and I've just carried out tests at GRC, Hackerwatch, and PC Flank. Windows Firewall came up 100% on every stealth test. Can't be bad. Anyway, as I mentioned above, if I get any problems I'll pass the information on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotse Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Hi I hope no-one minds me dragging this topic back to the fore, especially on my first post. Just a couple of points. When I installed PC tools firewall AVG antivirus software (free edition) warned me that the file "update.exe" bundled with this software was a trojan horse. (Generic3.JJG) After uninstalling the firewall, windows (vista) still thought the firewall was still running. Not impressed at all. It took a system restore to return things back to normal. I eventually found a free program called "Vista firewall control". It runs alongside the windows firewall, but allows you to control outgoing program access as well. ( in otherwords you leave windows firewall ON) One minor irritant, (at least on my PC) is if you try and add a program yourself it will block it regardless of whether you "enable" or "disable" access to the web. However, allow the firewall control to ask you, and then make your choice, and all seems to work fine. Download it here: http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/index.html Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnGrA Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Well im getting a weird issue where my security center isn't even picking up that i have PCTools firewall on and instead is warning me that i currently have no firewall on even though it is on. So it made me wonder if it is the firewall playing up but yesterday the security center started to say that i didn't have any anti virus software on there either lol, but this happened after i updated the AntiVir to there latest version with the rook kit detector on it. Does anyone have any ideas what the hell is happening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted April 22, 2007 Moderators Share Posted April 22, 2007 Since it isn't noticing PC Tools Firewall Plus then your Windows Security Center is probably broken somehow - I don't have a better explanation, however some antivirus and firewall software seem to mess its detection up somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotse Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Try this: I had a similar problem when, my system thought I had two firewalls running. It simply resets the security settings: 1. At the command line of windows XP "Start" ->"Run" enter the command "CMD.EXE" and press Enter. 2. At the new window (Command Prompt window), type "NET STOP WINMGMT /Y" and press Enter. Then type "exit" and press Enter again. 3. Then go at the folder C:\windows\system32\wbem and delete the folder "Repository". 4. Reboot windows. The folder will be recreated by the Security Center and will display the correct information. I got this info from a post in the comodo firewall forum. It was posted by a moderater. It works on vista and XP. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted April 22, 2007 Moderators Share Posted April 22, 2007 I got this info from a post in the comodo firewall forum. It was posted by a moderater. It works on vista and XP. I wish I had that info when that damned Comodo Firewall wouldn't uninstall properly last year, figures the info was posted on their forum however their installer is still broken in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotse Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 If your having problems with uninstalling, its more likely to be with the windows installer. There is a tool which allows you to remove the program from it database, allowing any third party uninstaller to remove the program. Its from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;290301 I can think of one other option, but I will have to hunt for the solution in my files.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted April 22, 2007 Moderators Share Posted April 22, 2007 I have that Windows Installer fix from Microsoft and have it installed just in case a worst case scenario crops up with something. However I'm not having any problems with removing Comodo Firewall hence I'm long over two full formats later so it's now a non-issue. It won't be an issue in the future either because I'm not installing any Comodo software again. I'm currently enjoying having PC Tools Firewall Plus and AVG Free installed as they work seamlessly well together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnGrA Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 cheers Andavari and lotse although i tried it lotse and it didn't work. However im not that bothered as i know that PCTools firewall and AntiVir are working. What i have done now is just go on services and disabled the security center as i don't really need it anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted April 22, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted April 22, 2007 Well im getting a weird issue where my security center isn't even picking up that i have PCTools firewall on and instead is warning me that i currently have no firewall on even though it is on. So it made me wonder if it is the firewall playing up but yesterday the security center started to say that i didn't have any anti virus software on there either lol, but this happened after i updated the AntiVir to there latest version with the rook kit detector on it. Does anyone have any ideas what the hell is happening I had a similar problem recently when Security Centre was telling me I had Sunbelt Kerio Firewall installed after I had uninstalled it, and was running Windows Firewall. Fixed the problem from the following post by Humpty. http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?s=&...ost&p=65176 Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lotse Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Thats exactly what I said, except I switch the security centre off before I delete the folder... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted April 22, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted April 22, 2007 Thats exactly what I said, except I switch the security centre off before I delete the folder... You're right of course. My apologies. You know the brain only takes in so much of what you read first time around. Realised you'd already said the same thing second time I read it. That's my excuse anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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