Best Windows Software Firewall for Power Users

Greetings all,

I hope my thread title described what I'm looking for fairly clearly.
I've spent the last day looking for a decent replacement for Kerio
Personal Firewall 2.x and have gone through about 15 software packages.
Nearly all of them were terrible.

A good number of them would easily let in rogue traffic because they
don't let you configure the firewall enough, relying on "automatic"
rules. Most were designed for Joe User who does not have a clue about
the structure of the Internet and in any case they lacked the
functionality and simplicity of Kerio PF 2.x.

Kerio PF 2.x (and to a much lesser extent, Kerio PF 4.x) had a very
well thought out and effective interface. Building firewalls around
the paradigm of "allow all traffic from port 80, POP3, FTP, etc." does
not make sense for the modern desktop user. This is one reason why I
don't have all that much respect for hardware firewalls. This one size
fits all rule does not apply in modern desktop computing. Today's user
encounters a multitude of new software every day which may want to
connect to the Internet, and every piece of software will have to be
handled differently.

Kerio PF 2.x was built around the paradigm of "program control", i.e.
every new program must be cleared before access is granted and denied.
It then offers "port control" within each and every program. P2P
programs use every port in the book so it makes sense to allow all
their traffic through, while it might be useful to block port 80 from
Outlook, for example.

None of the firewalls I used gave me this kind of functionality.
Locking down an application to only one port takes 3 clicks with Kerio
PF; it would be many, many more clicks on the newer firewalls, and even
then the feature may not be available.

Another major difficulty I had is with "security levels". As the old
saying goes "Keep It Simple, Stupid". This is something newer
firewalls refuse to do. One had an option of 10 different security
modes. Let's go back to Kerio PF 2.x. Three security modes - Allow
All Traffic, Prompt User, Deny All Traffic. Simplicity. That's what
the advanced user loves, don't you think?

There is so much bloat and irrelevant features in these products. Have
they forgotten what a "firewall" is supposed to do? No, it's not
supposed to be an anti-virus, a pop-up blocker or a content blocker. I
simply want it to be a FIREWALL.

Does anyone know where I can find a software firewall with the features
that Kerio PF 2.x had? Maybe even a clone of that version is in order?
All the newer firewalls seem to be made with Joe User in mind: "let's
churn out any old firewall for these idiots - they'll buy it anyway and
think it's great".

BTW, I would continue to use it but the latest version in 2.x has a
known issue whereby it will crash at a certain interval, thus making it
unsuitable for an always-on connection.

Thanks if you can help. If you can't, it looks like it's almost
impossible to get a decent software firewall and I'll have to run a
Linux box to do it instead. And sorry if this is a bit long..

Anon.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Security Newbie - DSNkong, Proxomitron, Kerio
    ... >> Remote Port field, you can either add in the ports you will use ... >connect to cpanel, but still cannot FTP. ... When kerio is on I see that it is allowing ... than shutting down the firewall. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Kerio 2.1.5 vulnerability
    ... Linux ipchains Firewall Vulnerability ... As I used Kerio I put it in the 2do list as something to play with, ... Log Suspicious Packets. ... When sending a SYN to an open or closed port I got no reply. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Kerio 2.1.5 - Unable to Attach TCP Message
    ... Windows 2000 SP4 with Kerio firewall 2.1.5. ... either Windows Worms Cleaner or by editing the registry, ... closing the port, then reinstalling Kerio, but that didn't fool it. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Re: Kerio Personal Firewall v2.1.5 & XPs remote desktop...
    ... Try to add the port manually through the kerio Admin toward the LAN's IP of the computer. ... I can't seem to get its remote desktop, from another box to connect with the enabled firewall. ... I tried configuring port 3389? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web)
  • Re: Any suggestions?
    ... trying to get the Kerio program to recognize the proxy browser, ... We have scanned your system for open ports and for ports visible to others ... > "Firewall" tab to "Ask Me First". ... > then see the five or six default rules supplied by Kerio. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)