To put it mildly the firewall that comes with Windows XP sucks! It is a pain in the rear to try and configure as you have to create entries for each port the programs are going to access. I have heard not so great things about Zone Alarm.
Thanks to a tip from a member over at Go Firefox!, I looked into and have been using Sygate Personal Firewall. What I love about Sygate is the simple interface and configuration. If an application is trying to connect to the Internet, Sygate will popup and and inform you that this application is attempting to access the Internet and will ask if you wish to allow. A simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ setup with the option to always use that choice.
In addition if an application has changed which is normal for updates, but also can happen due to viruses and Trojan Horses, Sygate will alert you the application has changed since the last time you accessed it. I go through this each time Firefox or Thunderbird has been updated. Sure it may be annoying to get the popup, but better to be safe and besides other Firewalls will just simply block the application without alerting you.
Sygate also alerts you to port scans (an open/unprotected port is an invitation for a Trojan Horse or worm) and can provide the IP address of the computer that attempted to scan your machine with the option of a back trace.
I second your endorsement of Sygate Personal Firewall. It is unfortunate that Symantec bought Sygate and promptly discontinued SPF. But that doesn’t change the fact that SPF is easy to use and it works well.
Theres still a free version out there! just google for sygate personal firewall download.
If you use P2P program over night and try to surf on net at the morning, the Sygate Personal Firewall program freezes firefox and IE traffic. SPF dosen’t recognize firefox or IE program at all and so it dosen’t allow it to access to net. Even restarting the program dosen’t help, you need to restart whole windows or shut down SPF to surf on the net.
Zonealarm free version has been working well, but i’m not satisfied to how it controls svchost.exe traffic. If you block svchost traffic, you can’t surf on the net. If you allow it, it will make unneccessary access to net and downloads, even if you turn off windows automatic updates from services.msc.
I use Skydur to access blocked sites in China – youtube, facebook, twitter, hulu etc… It’s so easy to use and works on my Mac Book Pro and Windows. I wish it was free – but it’s not so expensive – just about $5 bucks per month – check it out here http://www.skydur.com – you won’t be disappointed.