Good firewall software

Rapier21

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Jan 25, 2001
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I'm looking for a firewall prog that offers good protection against malicious behavior but at the same time allows me to run my internet software without hitches (IRC client, FTP server and clients, AIM, etc). Ease of use would also be a plus, but not at teh expense of functionality. Does anybody out there have any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance.

~Rapier21
 
actually I was loking for something a little better than BlackIce or ZoneAlarm....those are too helpful for their own good. The only way I can have my FTP server work with either of those is to set them to "no protection". In that case, what's the point of having a firewall? I want to know if theres anything which is similar to BlackIce but allows me to specify ports to remain open (i.e. 21 for FTP)
 
I believe Zone Alarm Pro lets you specify which ports you want to leave open for certain applications.
 
Go for the router. I just got a <A HREF="http://www.netgear.com" target="_new">Netgear</A> one yesterday. Easy to setup, is a DHCP server, Firewall etc. Saves me a couple of bucks a month because you only need one IP address.
Check em out, It's a worthwhile investment.

<A HREF="http://www.seti.tomshardware.com" target="_new">Join The Tom's Hardware SETI@Home Team</A>
 
ZoneAlarm Pro does allow you to manually configure ports for certain programs, but you do have to pay for it *if you're into that sort of thing*