Free firewall for Vista

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I have a new Compaq Presario running Vista. It came with the Norton 60-day trial (Security & Firewall).
I don’t like it – too bloated, etc.
What are some firewalls available for Vista? No router in use here…don’t need one.
Sometime in late March/early April, I will be migrating from Adelphia to RR, and RR has their own Security Suite – not sure which one it is, but in the meantime, I want to get rid of Norton.
Thanks.

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It’s hard to believe that Norton Internet Security is “bloated” in comparison with Windows Vista and the magnificent hardware required to run it in all its full glory.

But I can understand the desire to find a free product before the trial expires. For best results, I suggest sticking with the established players, like ZoneAlarm. You can sign up for a notification of the Vista-compatible release. Not sure they will beat your ticking clock, however.

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True, Vista is bloated and quite a change from my beloved ME , but Symantec has been notorious for getting more bloated over the years. I don’t know about ZA – had it once – for 2 weeks on my ME…didn’t like it.
Guess I’ll just keep looking.
Thanks for the reply.

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As an interim measure, you can use the Windows Firewall that is built into Vista. It’s free, you won’t have to install anything, and provides better protection than many reviews would have you believe.

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Right now, the Windows Firewall is turned off, cuz Norton turned it off…to take over the ‘safety’ of my pc. I’d still have to get an AV program, of course.

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You can get a 90 day Windows Live OneCare and if you like it you just convert it to a paid version. It includes a AV as well as a extended firewall.
Been using it since RTM of Vista and before.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I couldn’t wait! After reading all the data on the link, I said to just go for it!
Did the uninstall re the Nortoncrap, rebooted, used the Symantec Uninstaller removal .exe, rebooted, then re-connected my modem and went and got the OneCare!
I am now in the 90day trial plan.
Did the updates, virus checkup, and all the other goodies that this program offers…except for the ‘backups’…which I’ve never, ever done before. Never seem to need a backup of my files – nothing on this pc – other than whatever came on this pc – is needed to be backedup. I’ll just wait on the backup.
Again, thank you.

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Lot’s of hype out there in NET land concerning firewalls ….. IMHO. But Vista’s own Windows Firewall provides adequate protection. Seldom are you going to be “hacked” by some miscreant. A router is one of the best protections you can find around and they require no configuration, upkeep, updating, etc. You just plug it in and it works. A router and Windows Firewall would serve you well. What you need to really concern yourself with is Antivirus protection. IMHO, there are only 3 real choices out there and I’ll list them in the order of my preference. Obviously others will disagree.

1. Kaspersky AV (They also offer KIS (a full suite, including AV, firewall, antispam, etc., but I don’t care for suites)
– AOL offers a free AV which uses the KAV engine and seems to work fairly well and without having to install anything else from AOL.
2. NOD32
3. AntiVir (there is a free and Pro version)

Jeff

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Didn’t see your reply until after I had just posted my reply to Dave.
Thanks for all of your input. I really do appreciate it very much.

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Lonnie,
OneCare comes with a “Backup”, but I will not use it, I use TrueImage. The backup that is with OneCare is based on the “Windows Backup, which is NOT very good.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I’ve never used a backup…ever. I didn’t let OneCare do a backup, since I don’t understand the need for them. Not for me, at least. If I were a business person, or a writer, etc., – then I could understand the need for backups. But all I am is a computer-user…reads some emails (which get deleted immediately), member of Forums to learn about things relating to computer useage, player of online games, payer of bills online and that’s about it. I don’t do photos or anything that needs to be ‘stored’ on the harddrive. When I had my old computer – which had a 20GB HDD – it was always 18GB free – which was mainly the ME OS.
So…you you think I really need a backup?

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> So…you you think I really need a backup?

How long would it take you to recover if you had to reinstall everything after a hard drive failure, a catastrophic software failure, or a security intrusion?

Of course this is only going to happen to you once every year or so, and you may be able to afford the time. but with an image backup it would take less than an hour.

StuartR

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Ok, I understand that. It states that there are 2000+ new files that have been updated. Guess putting a cd into the cdr won’t hurt.

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Backing up just the files won’t enable you to recover from a catastrophic failure of the hard disk or operating system, you would need an image backup.

I haven’t used OneCare and I don’t know if it does an image backup, or just file backups.

StuartR

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Does file backups.

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