Windows 7 Thirdparty Firewall software and W7

makinjr

New Member
I have a difficult problem. I have tried several firewall softwares with W7. None of them (except own Windows Firewall) works correctly. Most serious problem is that if I run pcflank.com's quick test for firewall, test shows I have several ports visible and accessible from the internet! I have all I can to disable all incoming connections.
I have tried these: Outpost Pro, PC tools free (version 6), Comodo, zonealarm free and tallemu's OnlineArmor free.
It appears that in W7 they are unable to filter incoming traffic.
My connection is Mobile Broadband. Outpost and Zonealarm were able to always detect Mobile Broadband connection.
Zonealarm appears to be best to protect me though unreliable. PCtools, Comodo and OnlineArmor failed badly.

Others mostly failed. When I downloaded stuff from the internet most software could not show that anything was transferred. For example OnlineArmor did show firefox in its log display, but showed only local ports while I was actually downloading stuff from internet at the same time using firefox.

NOTE: This may concern only incoming connections from the internet. Outbound traffic is controlled quite well by all these firewalls.

So: I use now windows firewall with Windows7 Firewall Control freeware. Not very user friedly and limited feature set, but works! :confused:
 
You should not run 2 or more firewalls at the same time. When you try a new firewall software, it is necessary to turn off the old one.
 
I have a difficult problem. I have tried several firewall softwares with W7. None of them (except own Windows Firewall) works correctly. Most serious problem is that if I run pcflank.com's quick test for firewall, test shows I have several ports visible and accessible from the internet! I have all I can to disable all incoming connections.
I have tried these: Outpost Pro, PC tools free (version 6), Comodo, zonealarm free and tallemu's OnlineArmor free.
It appears that in W7 they are unable to filter incoming traffic.
My connection is Mobile Broadband. Outpost and Zonealarm were able to always detect Mobile Broadband connection.
Zonealarm appears to be best to protect me though unreliable. PCtools, Comodo and OnlineArmor failed badly.

Others mostly failed. When I downloaded stuff from the internet most software could not show that anything was transferred. For example OnlineArmor did show firefox in its log display, but showed only local ports while I was actually downloading stuff from internet at the same time using firefox.

NOTE: This may concern only incoming connections from the internet. Outbound traffic is controlled quite well by all these firewalls.

So: I use now windows firewall with Windows7 Firewall Control freeware. Not very user friedly and limited feature set, but works! :confused:

Makinjr:
I am presently running only the builtin Windows 7 Firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials. I went to pcflank.com and took every test on there and passed with flying colors, except of course browser cookies. Can you say which tests you are having problems with and is it possible you have a non-private reserved, IP address live on your computer, rather than being behind a network address translation firewall?
 
I do not have multiple firewalls running. Windows Firewall is disabled while running other firewall. I tested firewalls one by one.
I think it is clear that something in my network configuration is causing this problem. But I think it is a bug of those software since Windows firewall works perfectly. I downloaded yesterday Norton Internet security 2010 trial. And it also works perfectly!!! So something wrong with those cheaper firewalls.

I use mobile broadband connection. My computer is Thinkpad T500, brand new, W7 ready (no upgraded version). All drivers are updated. I use Access Connection software but I uninstalled it for some time. Made no difference.

So: I believe it is compatibility issue. In my XP thinkpad those software firewalls work perfectly well.
 
Back
Top