1. Free Firewall Protection

Read this article in Introduction Firewalls help monitor your system's communications between your network and the Internet, to help detect, alert, and prevent intrusions and attacks. They are particularly useful for controlling the activities of Internet facing applications, ie. Applications that access the internet. Firewall products are arguably one of more cumbersome software products to use and have a reputation of causing user angst - to find a suitable product that meets individual users' needs may involve a process of trial and error. A good firewall should be able to protect to user at a near-perfect level, while not being too intrusive or complicated to handle. The type of user, including what the user usually uses their computer for, may very well determine the functionality or feature set that is necessary for each individual user.

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In this article, we give you a selection of some of the best free firewall software, in our opinion, that is available. Our reviews and recommendations are made taking into consideration both editors' and site visitors' experience, opinions, and comments. As always, if you have more to share on your experiences with the software products mentioned and/or freeware firewall products that you like, we would love to hear from you. Please refer to the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Firewalls come in two flavours; software based and hardware based. Software based firewalls (which is what we will cover in this article) reside on your machine, running in the background in order to keep a watch on things. To avoid potential conflicts only install one (third-party) software firewall. Also, in order to achieve the best combination of protection, we would strongly suggest to use a hardware firewall (such as a router) in conjunction with a software firewall.

Modern routers usually have a built-in firewall, helping to filter out content before your machine; consult your router documentation for more details. Of course, for portable devices such as laptops, you may use it to connect to other outside networks which may or may not have the hardware based protection. In this case, having a software firewall is even more crucial.

Basic firewall protection is critical for securing your PC. Simple firewalls (like the default Windows firewall) limit access to your system and personal information, and silently protect you from inbound threats. We review basic third-party firewalls as well as the built in Windows firewall, and look at features such as monitoring programs that request outgoing Internet connections (we call this 'outbound protection'). Basic firewalls generally only have limited protection; proactive firewalls offer more extended protection, including HIPS or program monitoring , and watch for malicious behavior before malware gets a chance to take control of your PC or turn it into a botnet drone.

They seek to achieve stronger '2-way' protection, preventing programs from broadcasting your personal information to the Internet. The downside of such firewalls are that it may be harder to use and/or require more memory consumption. Also, there is a greater risk of HIPS software causing conflicts, errors, or otherwise cause other issues with your PC.

Some kinds of malware are best detected by their behavior, so a proactive firewall (or firewall/HIPS combo) is a solid second layer of protection next to your antivirus program. It is an excellent option for high risk users. However, it's plausible to argue that a good resident antivirus will stop some malicious threats before they get a chance to make it to the Internet anyway. Many of the top antivirus programs are starting to provide behavioral blocking and extended scanning of network activity. Nevertheless, it is important to use basic or proactive firewall protection, antivirus software for active protection, and safe practices in order to minimize the risk of malware on your PC. You can 'upgrade' (for free!) your security by reading the documentation and learning about proactive firewalls or HIPS programs, or using other protection like least-privileged user accounts and/or Sandboxie or GeSWall.

This information, and more, is available on various parts of our website. show-hide toggle Review Index. Basic Firewalls The built-in is a common choice since it passes all inbound tests (both stealth and open port) and doesn't have many popup alerts. It doesn't require a separate software installation, as it comes built-in with modern versions of Windows. Therefore, it is not likely to conflict with your other programs. And many average users may not reliably handle the popup alerts of the more complex firewalls on the market, especially at their max settings. Newer versions of Windows also feature an updated, improved version of Windows firewall that is much better than prior versions of Windows.

If you scan clean for malware, don't want/need the additional features of a third-party firewall, and are a relatively low risk user, then the Windows firewall is likely a practical and useful solution. Alternatively, you can replace the Windows firewall with a basic third-party firewall for greater control of outbound protection and additional features. Most simple two-way firewalls ask you to allow or deny Internet access for unknown programs. Many also automatically allow trustworthy apps and remember your decisions to become silent over time. However, these software require additional configuration of settings, especially at the outset. Inadequate HIPS or program monitoring protection. No High setting for program access in Free version.

In spite of available automatic update option, updates almost always must be performed manually. Help file designed for commercial version. Firewalls with HIPS Protection The following personal firewalls provide an advanced level of network and HIPS protection. Each firewall comes with default settings and, depending on the users' needs, may or may not require much adjustments. It should be noted that firewall products in this section require more time to learn and configure, and are more complex to use than basic firewalls. There is also a higher risk of conflicts and problems arising on your system. Since firewalls are often praised for their security effectiveness at their max settings, users will likely have lower protection than mentioned by independent testing sources, such as Matousec, for practical day to day use.

All of the product vendors seek to provide user friendly features, sometimes incorporating reduced levels of protection in their default settings by decreasing some HIPS monitoring. In other words, these firewalls may be more suitable for more advanced users, as well as those that are more 'high risk'. No built-in help. Despite not installing the AV component, the AV files are still placed in the Comodo program folder. Possible problems when uninstalling program; remnants of the program are sometimes left on the computer. Summary Both types of firewalls (basic and HIPS/proactive) both have their benefits and drawbacks.

While HIPS software do offer greater protection and control of your machine, it naturally requires more user interaction and resources, making such software not the easiest to use. There are more settings to configure and it is more complex to use than the basic firewalls. On the contrary, basic firewalls are generally simpler to use and may be easier for the user to adjust and learn how to use it.

Comparatively, they do not offer as much protection as HIPS software; for example, they cannot detect suspiciously acting software behaviour, as it primarily filters incoming and outgoing internet traffic. If you are an advanced computer user and/or are a 'high risk' user, then the increased complexity of a HIPS firewall may be the best option for you, as it offers you the maximum protection available (in this regard). However, for most average users who use their computer for regular day to day use, a basic firewall is probably more than adequate. For these latter parties, a HIPS firewall may simply be going overboard as the increased features, complexity, and configurations are unnecessary. Additional Tips / Precautions. Before installing new resident security products, including antivirus and firewall programs, consider making a full drive image. By creating a full drive image you are able to restore your entire computer back to a previous state in the event your system becomes completely unresponsive.

Drive imaging allows you to recover from unintentional conflicts as well as severe malware infections. Everyone's system is unique and may have old, latent drivers that may be incompatible with whatever you are installing, causing problems with your system. Newer versions of Windows have a built in 'Complete PC Backup and Restore' feature, or you can use a. To cleanly uninstall your (third-party) firewall before installing a new one, you may consider using ZSoft Uninstaller to analyze before and after the installation. If you haven't used it on your current firewall, try Revo Uninstaller (or other vendor or Windows uninstaller), check for leftover services and drivers with Autoruns, and restart your computer.

Other/Unsupported Firewalls The following firewalls are now unsupported by their vendors. This means they have been discontinued and/or are no longer offered by the software publisher. While they may still be available for download, they may contain undocumented bugs or stability/security issues that will not be addressed.

These reviews are archived for information purposes only. Unless you run an older Windows system with no other current firewall programs available, we would suggest using another program that is currently active. 's HIPS feature is mostly in its 'Program Guard'. It has a feature called ' that allows you to selectively set risky applications (web browsers, office software, readers/viewers, instant messengers, email or news programs, multimedia software, download managers, etc.) to run as if under a limited user account (go to 'Programs' tab uncheck 'Hide Trusted' highlight a program and click 'Run Safer'). It minimizes popup alerts over time with its automatic list of safe programs, your on-demand scans with its safety check wizard, and your responses to popup alerts - especially in cases where you tell it to remember your decisions and have it treat programs as trustworthy. Run the wizard and have it search your PC for known programs to allow/block/ask.

In this case, Online Armor relies on you to respond to alerts for unknown programs. For the curious or paranoid user, it uses excellent popup messages when it automatically allows a program to connect online and, optionally, when it automatically trusts a program/process to run (these alerts don't require user action and they can be enabled/disabled in the interface with 'Options' 'Firewall', and 'Programs' 'Options').

For example, I noticed a message when it auto trusted a key logger test, but after I set the tester to untrusted, it gave very informative and detailed security alerts (and then it passed the test and logged the tester in the interface under the 'Key Logger' tab, but it only logged the key logger after the test was untrusted). You can even close both its tray tools from its right-click context menu. They are not needed for the firewall and HIPS components to continue running and protecting. differs from other regular ones in that it comes with additional protection modules; namely a registry defender, a banner blocker, and parental control options – it is something like a suite. The firewall itself does not have as many configurable options as some of the firewalls listed on this page, but the standard selections are still there – off, which turns off the firewall; custom, which allows you to set your own connection rules; and high, which blocks all connections. Each section of the program is displayed clearly; navigation is through the menu on the left. Alerts are generally clear and straightforward, as is configuration.

The registry defender protects the registry from being modified, with the option of only protecting select categories. The parental control limits the list of websites that can be accessed, but you must manually add each website to be trusted, ie. You cannot block specific websites; you can only allow certain websites. The anti-banner component blocks undesirable web page content including ads, flash banners, pop-ups and the like. All three of these additional modules can be disabled independently as desired.

AVS Firewall also comes with a monitoring utility so you can check the size of network traffic which is sent and received by each application. During installation of this firewall, the installer automatically installs the AVS Software Browser; there is no option to opt-out of installing this, but the program can be removed separately after installation with no effect on the actual firewall program. The installer also has a pre-checked option to install AVS Registry Cleaner, and it is recommended that it is unchecked so the installer does not install it. Therefore, while the software has some additional features not found in your everyday firewall program, most of those features can be found in other third party programs.

by Agnitum software technology is a good choice for users who want highly flexible protection without sacrificing usability. It appears to be built with average users in mind, judging by the care taken to simplify alert messages and make it easy to adjust intrusion prevention (or HIPS) monitoring. For example, it remembers your responses to popup alerts without the need to set 'trusted' rules (like in Comodo/Online Armor), and like Online Armor it notifies you when it automatically allows an application to access the Internet (especially helpful during the learning phase). The free version lacks many extras of the pay version, however, such as automatic updates and the ability to break active connections. The HIPS component is called 'Host Protection' in the interface. It provides four default levels of protection, which can be easily set with a slider and additionally customized item by item by advanced users. The default 'optimal' setting only monitors the 'most dangerous activities' (such as memory injections, driver loads, and a healthy list of system critical features - auto starts, shell extensions, and internet settings) instead of all program activities.

But these 'optimal' settings lack protection from keyloggers, direct disk accessing, DNS API request monitoring, etc. You can check the types of reduced monitoring in 'Settings.' 'Host Protection' 'Customize.' Agnitum has now been acquired by Yandex. As a result, Agnitum has discontinued support and sales of the Outpost product line.

Other Unsupported Firewalls for Windows 95-2000. (Windows 2000/XP/2003). (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP, requires registration). (Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2). (Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/2003/XP, 32-bit). show-hide toggle Related Products and Links Related to Firewalls. (PBSLW).

Security Guides. Security Products. Inbound Vulnerability Tests. (open ports test, vulnerability scan).

(stealth test). (open ports test). (open, closed, filtered, unfiltered ports test). (open ports test). (open ports test). (stealth test) Outbound Vulnerability Tests.

(testing suite results). (a suite of tests for experts). It may receive antivirus warnings, but they are false positives. Learn More. (threat information) Editor This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Tim.

Registered site visitors can contact Tim by clicking. Please rate this article. While I really like the firewall Comodo offers, I cannot use & will not recommend anyone else use, as you cannot fully disable the. Anti-virus aspects of their software, even if you explicitly try to, or attempt to only install the firewall. I told it during installationthat I only wanted the firewall, but it gave me everything anyway, and while I had been running it before, even though I disabled the anti virus, it decided it would constantly block my attempts to run things and NEVER notify me about it, so I thought I was having computer problems. It took me forever to figure out Comodo was the damn culprit!

Now it has earned itself a spot in my most loathed software, especially because of their greedy underhanded tactics to install crap you explicitly say you don't want, and then trying to ram their other products down your throat. or to post comments. Comodo all the way! It also acts as malware protection for me. With the sandbox enabled, it blocks all nasties I can throw at it.

Even tested Ransim against it and it blocks all the simulated ransomware. Though I must point out that I got the ideal settings from someone quite knowledgeable about all things CF.

Not sure if I can point you guys to some of her review vids, but they are quite helpful. I used to use binisofts paid product, but noticed that I can do all that it does on CF using the 'custom ruleset' in the firewall options. Then it will ask before letting anything make a connection out and you can filter requests as you wish. or to post comments. I have been running the free version of GlassWire for several weeks now - not as a stand alone firewall but in conjunction with my inbuilt Windows 10 firewall. Whilst it is generally not advisable to run two firewalls together GlassWire is designed to run along side the Windows firewall and provides considerable additional useful information and operates unobtrusively after a brief training period where the user vets connection alerts related to installed programs and apps. Don't know what level of protection it would offer on its own but as an adjunct to Windows firewall it is an excellent and very user friendly tool which is being continually improved and developed (latest update yesterday).

I was somewhat sceptical of GlassWire initially because of the rather gimmicky colorful graphics but I am glad I tried it and it is a definite keeper on my computers. or to post comments. GlassWire is only a firewall in the sense that it is a front-end to Windows Firewall.

If you disable Windows Firewall then the GlassWire firewall features will also be disabled. Quite a few users don't touch the firewall features - I am one that doesn't - but it might be useful one day if I get a malware infection and want to use the firewall feature to block all network access. I mainly use it as a system monitor to keep track of all applications and devices interacting with the network from my computer. Many people use it only for bandwidth monitoring as a lot of people have quotas on their Internet connection. If they want to monitor all their network traffic then they put it on every computer. I adopted it when I first heard about it here. I liked it so much I've paid for a full version even though I only need the free features.

or to post comments. While looking for a new firewall, I chose to go back to Comodo, which I have used in the past with good results. While I had no technical errors or problems installing in Windows 10, the first thing I saw it install was Geek Buddy! I saw no option made available in install to not install this program. I am usually pretty good at catching this. I did catch where it wanted to change homepages and search engine. So off the uninstall Geek Buddy - Not happening.

Free Firewall Protection

Uninstall button was disabled in add/remove programs. So I uninstalled Comodo and guess what - it left Geek Buddy behind on my computer. Thankfully this time the uninstall button was enabled so I could get rid of it. Then scanned for leftovers just in case.

I would not have expected this from Comodo, so I will no longer consider it as an option anymore. or to post comments. Although it has been a long time since I installed Comodo, I was sure there is an option to choose what to install, which for me always did not include the annoying GeekBuddy. I honestly was on with PrivateFirewall, until in messed up a handful of my computers. The computer would start and it would give me a black screen. I looked it up and tried to fix it, but I never found a solution. Had to format my PC for that.

Keep in mind I do not say something like 'OMG THEIR PROGRAM DESTROYED MY PC! DEFINITELY A VIRUS! DO NOT INSTALL!' I usually laugh at people that exaggerate like that. But it did it 5 times, 3 being on my main PC. I returned to Comodo mostly cause I am used to it and I know where to go and what to adjust to make it work. Just to check it out I just downloaded the installer of Comodo Internet Security.

Seems the option is still there when you install it. When the installer starts, on the bottom left there is a customize option. You click that and you can enable and disable what you want.

I used to disabled only GeekBuddy in the past, but now I disable Chromodo too, since I use Comodo Dragon instead. But the option is still there to disable what you want. or to post comments. BEWARE FOR COMODO on windows 10!

It gave me huge problems and difficulties to uninstall. After boot I only had a black screen, and couldn't run anything. I couldn't even get in safemode and it even gave me my first BSOD in windows 10. Had to use Linux to straighten things up.

NOT FOR BEGINNERS. Windows 10 firewall control has a very, very, very annoying sound, so uninstalled it straight away. Please, developers, get rid of that sound! Zone-alarm is getting too little credit here. It's really a 'fire-and-forget' kind of software, with more than enough possibilities if you want them. or to post comments. Software always will give problems.

That does not make them bad. Definitely Comodo always had and probably still have issues with BSODs and you can see so in their main site too. Obviously a lot of them happen because of conflicts though, rather than just the product.

Of course updates do not happen without reason too. I had a black screen problem with Private Firewall and not only once, but I remember it happened always when I did something specific. But either way, I have been using Comodo Internet Security for many years now and I do not get problems from it. It runs along MalwareBytes Antimalware with no problems and it is fine. Definitely not for someone that wants to start it up and forget it. or to post comments.

I think the 3 star rating for Comodo is about right. Excellent protection but a nightmare to uninstall. Even if you follow Chiron's lengthy clean install guide (and how many average users are prepared to do all that?) there is still a good chance you will have serious issues, as I found, eventually having to ditch Comodo after numerous BSOD's and failure of V8 to install properly. Until Comodo rectifies this I don't think it can be recommended. Sure, there are other security products that don't always uninstall cleanly, but none I've used have been anywhere near as problematic as Comodo. or to post comments. Used PrivateFirewall for a long time (on my Win XP), but now with Win 10 I gave up on 3rd party options.

One thing that annoys me with Windows built in firewall is user unfriendly interface when you want to block connection for some specific file. Found one simple program that allows you to do that.

The whole program has about 600 KB. You can even add option to explorer contex menu to block specific files from there. Program doesn't install, it's portable. You can start it from anywhere, but then it does copy itself with ini file to Windows Program Files section. Can't add link, so try googling 'Firewall App Blocker' by Sordum. or to post comments. Hope all is well.

Well I have to ask you if you have heard anything from or if you can contact Privacyware regarding a Windows 10 compatibility update. As you know there is a lot of people out there who love Privatefirewall, me included.which brings up another question for you, how can you disable trusted publishers in Windows 7 firewall? Reason is Qihoo is trying to force people to upgrade from 360 Internet Security to Total Security. Total Security, as you know is not the same product, however Total Security Essentials is. If I want to wait to see how Total Security Essentials develops before I decide to upgrade then I should be able to block the 360 Total Security Online installer rule 360 just made in windows 7 firewall. Why is it everytime 360 updates its virus definitions it changes the 360 Total Security Online installer rule it made from 'my blocked setting' to allow?

As usual I thank you for your time and consideration and any links you can provide. or to post comments. Management of trusted publishers is detailed here. The two things that annoy me most are popup windows for 'are you sure you really want to exit' and apps that overwrite permission rules. Regarding 360, I guess you're stuck with this behaviour because no doubt the permissions granted for the program at install are what allows it to overwrite your block rule. Although not an ideal solution for you maybe, but I would suggest switching to Panda until the full direction of the 360 products becomes more clear. I have Panda on two machines and neither have been compromised by anything nasty and what money I do have is still in my bank account.:D Regarding Privatefirewall, I've sent a contact to the vendor and will post their response here as soon as I get it.

MC - Site Manager. or to post comments.

The answer: Nothing. Nothing at all. There has not been a single (not one) Mac 'virus' that has escaped 'into the wild' since the introduction of OS X back around 2001 or so. ONE THING YOU DO NEED: MalwareBytes Anti-Malware for Mac. Get it here: It's free. IMPORTANT IMPORTANT When you run MalwareBytes, it will keep 'prompting you to upgrade to the paid version'. YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS (all shouting intentional).

It will run 'in free mode' forever. Although there aren't any Mac 'viruses', there ARE instances of Mac Malware and Adware (and other crapware). That's why it's useful to run MB periodically to check for them. It actually found something on my Mac several months' back (the very first 'instance' I've had with anything in over 30 years of Mac'ing).

MB got rid of it right away. Most Anti-malware software for Mac does not have pattern recognition, which means, unless the malware is in a specific form, that has already been encountered, then the malware scanner will not find it at all. Apples own security systems, that are built, in will protect you from anything out there, unless you go for the '5-finger-discount' or too good to be true deals, on some not so nice websites.

A little common sense and you perfectly fine. I forgot which one specifically, but recently a ransomware attach actually managed to hold some Mac users for ransom, and when it was found out, all anti-malware companies was out saying the where working on a fix for it. And if I remember correctly, Apple and the developer behind the compromised app, beat the anti-malware companies to it. (Could have been either the Transmission or Handbrake attack. I am really not sure) I have 4 Macs in my life (2 at home, 2 at work), none run any kind of anti-malware software. Click to expand.Macs are not immune to malware and no system is 100% secure, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on macOS, and there never have been any since it was released over 17 years ago. The only true malware in the wild that can affect your Mac is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by being careful about what apps you install (no pirated software).

3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing. In addition, some antivirus apps have themselves been used to introduce malware to Macs. In general, macOS malware is so relatively rare, that only a very small percentage of Mac users have ever encountered any.