Which ones do you use and why? I for one use ZAP with Linksys at home. Are you one with the crowd? Or do you use something else like Tiny/Kerio.. or LNS? I know some don't even use Firewalls at home, are you one of them?

Basically.. why do you use (or not) what you have? I got turned onto ZAP because it doesn't need me to run once its setup. For me, I like the "Set and Go" functionality. Although others I've seen like to get nitty-gritty with their firewalls, hence they run Kerio for instance.

I don't know, I'd rather put my time into something else these days than constantly monitoring my home firewall. At work for me it'd be different, higher traffic... great probability of intrusions. But at home I feel secure with my setup that allows me to branch off into other things, like Computer Cops.

<hr>
As an aside, to get ready for an upcoming Survey/Poll... I've gathered the following list of Firewalls. If you see anything missing, please add:

• AtGuard
  
• BlackIce IDS
  
• Conseal
  
• Kerio Personal Firewall
  
• ipchains
  
• Lockdown 2000
  
• Look'n'Stop
  
• McAfee
  
• Norton Personal Firewall
  
• Outpost
  
• Snort
  
• SOHO
  
• Sygate
  
• Tiny Personal Firewall
  
• Zone Alarm (Free/Pro)
  
• Combination Software Firewall & Router
  

I use Zone Alarm Free because it is idiot proof and I am an idiot. I set it and forget it. I have added a few IP's to the Local Zone Properties, but those are harmless ones from a site we all know and trust. I do not keep a lot of stuff on my puter so anyone that did get in would probably run away laughing. I also shut down during long nonuse periods. I guess what all this rambling is leading up to is this: ZAF fits my needs and configuring ability just great.

Hi,
As a newbie in computer I also use ZA free.As I don't have much knowledge in FW ZA free is easy to configure and to use.I like to be
able to set it up and then forget it.I don't like to much to waste hours
reading an help file(but I am rather lazy) to configure a software and then have a lot of thinks to check out while using it.But I fully understand
that experts like you or others advanced PC user prefer a more
configurable and customable tool.
Have a nice day

I've used ZA free since.... ummm... forever? That changed about 3 months ago, when I wanted more control & decided to install Outpost\Kerio. I ended up keeping Kerio. At first it looked a bit confusing, but now it's quite simple.(like most things in life)

I started out with WinGate but switched to WRP (Kerio) pretty quick, with
@Guard on the inside to monitor the processes (as WRP doesn't report
which process wants out) Still use WRP and occasionally have TPF (now
KPF) running for process monitoring.

I am presently using ZAF v2.6.362 and awaiting a new version, which I hope will be out soon. I have used ZA since learning about firewalls. Sure, I could spend my time trying to have more control, but for my one box, it didn't seem practical, so I've stuck with ZAF and probably will continue doing so unless there's a really good reason not to. I do not fret too much about the probes either as I also use http://www.dshield.org and upload my log to them daily so that they can use my logs in conjunction with all the material they put together, and if there's a need, they're the ones that make sure an ISP gets notice of a particular offender.

NIS 2002

I use ZAF 3.1.291 with my Linksys 4 port. I have used Zone Alarm forever.


When I need to network my house I purchased the router.

Both of these are really easy to setup and in my humble opinion work great together.

Hi,
I went from ZA free to LookandStop(with enhanced ruleset).It uses less
resources an allows more"fine tuning" settings
Regards

I use Outpost pro. I found it much lighter on resourses than ZAP. I found it very easy for a non-techie like me to set up rules. Any extra features like ad blocking, active content control, DNS caching, mail attachment filtering, and a few others, are all in the form of plug-ins that can be individually disabled or removed completely for those that only want a basic no frills firewall. I also like that OP accomodates third-party plug-ins, some of which I use.

I'm using two. One hardware - ZyWall by ZyXell and second software - Kerio. The second one for monitoring outgoing connections only. I'm pretty much paranoid

Since my first post, I have upgraded to ZoneAlarm + since I figured it was about time I get just a wee bit more configurability (is this really a word ) and I also liked the idea of the Components Control which ZAF doesn't offer. The learning curve for using ZA+ is still pretty low, and that fits me just fine. I am still uploading to DShield, so now, I feel I have the best I could for me and my skills (or lack thereof! )

once upon a time I used ZAF then moved to ZAP.. but after reading many "oh if you've previously (un)installed ZA(P) from your system here are some catches to installing our software" notes. Notes about bits put/left behind by ZA(P). No thanks. Now I use Kerio Personal Firewall. I also have a NetGear FVS318 firewall appliance.

- Started with adguard (good firewall, nice ad/popup blocking)
- After atguard stopped and turned into NIS Bloatware, I turned to Zonealarm (like a lot of people...)
- Used zonealarm upto v3
- Found out that Zonelarm often blocks stuff I need (cookies, referals, IRC) and needs a lot of tweaking to ge working right, I dumped it.
- Dunped Zonealarm and went back to Atguard.
- Found out that the ad blocking functions are a bit out-dated so started using adblocking by using the HOSTS file.
- Now am still very happy with ATGUARD and HOSTS file