It's no secret that most users limit themselves to protecting their computer by installing an antivirus, forgetting that in addition to the threat of PC infection, there is a threat of using the victim computer as a bot machine.

Therefore, to more fully protect your computer, in addition to installing an antivirus, we recommend installing a firewall, firewall or firewall - these are all names for the same thing. software.

Ashampoo Firewall

The first in our review will be a product from German developers – Ashampoo Firewall.

The product is activated by entering a code that is sent to the user’s mailbox after registering on the developer’s website.

Immediately after installation, you will be asked to configure the program according to the available simplified “Easy Mode” or advanced mode “Expert Mode”.

The principle of the firewall is as follows: for each application, an allowing or denying rule must be generated, which is processed by the firewall.

If an application for which a rule is not assigned attempts to establish a connection, the firewall warns the user - offering to create a rule.

This statement is true when the firewall is in learning mode.

When this mode is disabled, applications for which no rules are assigned will be blocked automatically.

Advantages:

Free;

Low consumption of system resources;

Friendly user interface;

Semi-automatic configuration is possible.

Flaws:

Not compatible with some antiviruses;

The firewall is installed without entering any passwords or registering, as is the case with Ashampoo Firewall.

Rules for application access are created in manual mode.

We recommend not to postpone this procedure until later, because... After installation, Ashampoo Firewall may remember some applications and programs as unverified, as a result of which the latter may not work correctly or not work at all.

Advantages:

Free;

Simple and reliable.

Flaws:

Lack of updates;

Lack of Russian-language interface;

Manual setting.

Comodo Firewall

Unlike its predecessors, we have a fairly powerful, multifunctional firewall, which is paired with an antivirus - Comodo Antivirus.

The firewall database is quite impressive and contains information on more than 13 thousand programs that have security risks.

The set of functions is standard - protection against Trojans, malicious scripts, support for incoming/ outgoing traffic, as well as network activity installed programs, DLL libraries, the ability to hide a computer on the network, control over software and driver updates.

Note! Additional features include detailed reporting of system events, integration into the Support Center Windows security, the ability to run applications in a specially designated environment for their safe execution - a sandbox.

Despite the wide range of different settings, the firewall has not lost its user-friendly interface; each option has a corresponding description.

Advantages:

Free;

Possibility of batch installation of firewall and antivirus;

Simple Russian-language interface with tips.

Flaws:

Increased loading time operating system, loss of PC performance;

The program is not removed from the system correctly, leaving behind a lot of “garbage”.

Outpost Firewall Pro

Software product from the Russian company Agnitum. To familiarize yourself with the capabilities of the firewall, the developer provides a free 30-day version.

Price licensed copy For home use for a year is 899 rubles, a license for 2 years will cost 1399 rubles.

A distinctive feature of the firewall is the ability to detect both known malicious programs and new ones that are not yet in the databases.

This function is possible thanks to a multi-level approach, which involves the use of proactive blocking based on analysis of program behavior and signature methods for detecting network activity.

In addition to the organized self-protection function of the firewall from being completely or partially disabled or modified by malicious code, the program also provides this protection for the operating system and installed programs and applications.

In general, the firewall is quite good; after spending some time on proper configuration, you can later forget about its existence; the program will provide a fairly high degree of protection for your PC.

Advantages:

Multi-level security approach with proactive protection;

The speed of the PC after installation remains at the same level;

Availability of a Russian-language interface with tips.

Flaws:

SpyShelter Firewall

The program is available for review for 14 days after installation, during which time the user must decide whether the program is worth the money.

An annual license of the program will cost 25 euros, although the company provides such an advantageous offer as purchasing a lifetime license at a price of 55 euros for 1 PC.

There is also an offer for 5 PCs - the licensing price is 65 and 165 euros, respectively.

The license price includes technical support for the product. Language for communication is English.

Note! In addition to the standard functions inherent in other firewalls, incl. the presence of proactive protection, it should be noted that there are also more advanced capabilities - protection from malware creating screenshots from the screen, webcam, and recording sound from the built-in microphone. There is a function to encrypt keystrokes.

Advantages:

Availability of proactive protection;

Installing the program does not affect system performance;

Flaws:

The need to purchase a license;

English interface.

Windows 7 Firewall

Firewall for Windows 7: overview best programs

Most users, when deciding on computer security, limit themselves to installing commercial or, believing that this is quite enough for “one hundred percent” protection. However, this is not quite true.

The Internet is full of dangers and in most cases, it is through the network that malicious applications penetrate the computer, and then, having nestled in, they themselves begin to transfer the personal data of an unsuspecting user to the network, or use the computer to distribute spam or as a proxy server.

Therefore, it is so important that each computer also has a good firewall installed, or as they also say, a firewall. In this short review we bring to your attention seven best free firewalls: Ashampoo Firewall Free, PC Tools Firewall Plus, Emsisoft Online Armor Free, ZoneAlarm Free Firewall, Filseclab Personal Firewall Professional Edition, Outpost Firewall Free and Comodo Firewall. The choice is yours.

Ashampoo Firewall Free

First on our list is Ashampoo Firewall Free. Like most programs developed by the company, this firewall has a convenient and colorful interface with Russian language support and a built-in settings wizard.

To use the program, you must go through a simple registration procedure on the manufacturer’s website. In this case, a message will be sent to the user's mailbox: free code, which you can use to register Ashampoo Firewall.

Immediately after installation, the wizard will offer you a choice of one of two modes: “Simplified” and “Expert”. In most cases, it is recommended to use Expert mode.

The program has five main modules or sections. In the “Rules” section you can configure connection parameters for programs that use the Internet. The “Statistics” and “Journal” modules are purely informational. Here you can view data about all connections and events.

The “Configuration” module is intended for internal settings of the firewall itself. The “Utilities” section contains four additional tools, namely, a process manager, a utility for clearing Internet surfing history and a pop-up blocker.

Ashampoo Firewall Free works approximately as follows: when an application for which there are no established rules tries to establish a connection, the firewall notifies the user about this, offering to create a new rule for this program, that is, allow or block its access to the network.

When you disable this function (learning mode), the dialog will not be shown, and all applications for which no rules have been set will be blocked automatically. You can also use the “Block all” option. In this case, the firewall will block all connections without exception.

PC Tools Firewall Plus

Next, we recommend that you pay attention to an excellent firewall called PC Tools Firewall Plus. Simple, free, with Russian language support, this firewall is one of the most reliable and effective, according to numerous user reviews. PC Tools Firewall Plus protects the system from unauthorized data transmission by Trojans, keyloggers and others malware, and also prevents them from penetrating the computer.

It also supports flexible management of network traffic, creating your own rules, protecting settings with a password, and hiding the presence of a PC on the network. The program is easy to install and does not require registration and system reboot as is the case with Ashampoo Firewall.

Connection parameters are configured manually. It is advisable to do this immediately after installing the program, since by default PC Tools Firewall Plus marks some applications as unverified and therefore may partially block their operation. The firewall user interface has six to five main sections.

The Applications module is designed to manage programs and create rules for them. You can create a list of tested ports and IP addresses in the “Profiles” section, and if you want to analyze network traffic, you can switch to the “Operation” section. IN general settings you can adjust the level of protection, set up filtering, full-screen mode, and also set a password to protect PC Tools Firewall Plus itself.

Emsisoft Online Armor Free

Third place on our list is taken by a free firewall from Emsisoft GmbH called Online Armor Free. The program has a fairly impressive set of protection tools against all kinds of online threats, as well as blocking malware that uses the Internet. Online Armor Free includes four main protection modules: firewall, web filter, proactive protection and anti-keylogger.

A firewall and web filter provide reliable protection against information leakage from the user’s computer, and also prevent unauthorized attempts to access the system by malicious scripts.

The proactive protection module allows you to control the behavior of programs and, if necessary, limit their activities.

Online Armor Free automatically scans your system for potentially dangerous applications and flags them accordingly. The firewall uses updated online databases to determine the security level of applications installed on the system.

Online Armor Free has a fairly simple and user-friendly interface with Russian language support. The main menu is located on the left side of the working window, the program status and date are displayed on the right side last update bases, as well as last news from the developer's website. Online Armor Free supports creating rules for programs, managing ports and devices, creating lists of ignored domains, controlling the startup of suspicious applications, as well as controlling permissions to change the HOSTS file.

The firewall's capabilities also include protection against spam, keyloggers, cookie blocking, site classification, and protection against forced address changes. home page browsers Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox. From additional features Applications include support for virtual desktops, subnet scanning, as well as disabling HIPS and setting a password on the GUI.

ZoneAlarm Free Firewall

If the lack of the Russian language does not bother you, you can pay attention to ZoneAlarm Free Firewall - a very unique firewall in terms of design, designed to protect PCs when working on global and local networks.

The application has an easy interface with a minimum number of settings. Supports control of user programs (access list), Internet traffic tracking, checking email attachments, detailed logging, blocking pop-up windows and advertising banners.

In addition, the program has a cookie control function, which allows you to limit the transfer of confidential information to the websites you view. The user can set the protection level independently. You can download the ZoneAlarm web installer completely free from the developer’s website.

During the installation process of the package, in addition to the firewall, a number of additional protection tools are also installed - Web Identity Protections (web lock), Identity Protections (personal identification) and Online Backup ( backup). After installing the firewall, you need to restart your computer.

Filseclab Personal Firewall Professional Edition

Filseclab Personal Firewall Professional Edition is another free, convenient and very simple firewall. The program supports creating individual rules for programs using a step-by-step wizard, filtering network access, viewing connections in real time, keeping logs, and monitoring traffic. Filseclab Personal Firewall responds to attempts by “doubtful” or new applications to open a connection by displaying a pop-up window asking you to create a corresponding rule.

The program uses three main security levels, each of which is marked with a corresponding color: green, yellow and red. In addition, for each level it is possible to create personal rules. Filseclab Personal Firewall has a fairly simple interface divided into seven sections.

The “Status” section displays the volume of traffic and the number of transmitted packets; “Monitor” displays the listening ports and application connections.

In the Rules section, you can set rules for a specific application or domain.

The remaining sections are of an informative nature. There is no Russian language in Filseclab Personal.

Outpost Firewall Free

The next firewall, Outpost Firewall Free, is perhaps one of the simplest and least demanding firewall systems. In this respect it is similar to the standard Windows firewall, which, as a rule, is constantly present in the system and does not show itself in any way :).

Outpost Firewall is a fairly easy-to-use program designed to protect against external intrusions, as well as unauthorized transfer of data by applications installed on the user’s computer. Unlike other firewalls, Outpost Firewall Free requires virtually no preliminary configuration.

The application supports monitoring of all incoming and outgoing connections, tracking software activity in real time, and extensibility using built-in modules. In the event of a threat or network activity of “dubious” programs, Outpost Firewall will notify the user about this and offer to allow or block the application that has declared itself.

Outpost Firewall Free has a very simple user interface, not burdened with “extra” functions. Russian language, unfortunately, is missing.

However, this is not so important - the program is simple enough that even a novice user can understand it. A few settings allow you to adjust the level of protection if necessary (up to completely blocking connections), as well as create exception rules for various programs and services.

Comodo Firewall

And finally, we suggest you briefly familiarize yourself with another free firewall, Comodo Firewall. This powerful, feature-rich program with an impressive set of tools is initially bundled with Comodo Antivirus, Comodo Defense and the Dragon web browser, but can also be installed separately.

The firewall provides full protection from hacker attacks, Trojans, malicious scripts, keyloggers and other types of Internet threats. The application supports monitoring of incoming and outgoing traffic, working with ports, hiding a computer on the network, monitoring software and driver updates

TO additional functions firewall includes maintaining a detailed event log, integration into Windows Security Center, quickly switching between modes (from the system tray), protecting the system during startup, detecting unidentified files, viewing active processes and launching applications in a special sandbox (Sandbox).

With such a solid set of tools, Comodo Firewall has a simple Russian-language interface aimed at the inexperienced network settings user. All tools and functions of the application are distributed among four modules, and each option has a corresponding description.

Plus, the program is equipped with a system of interactive dialogues (pop-up windows), written in an extremely simple and understandable language for a novice user.

Bottom line

Choosing a good firewall can seem like a daunting task. And to make this work easier, let me give you some free advice. First, when choosing a firewall, pay attention to the opinions of experienced users and software testers. As a rule, a really good firewall leaves a lot of positive reviews.

Secondly, a good firewall should not enter into unreasonable conflicts with system drivers, popular applications and antiviruses, and also be able to work with Windows Security Center.

The presence of updated databases is also very desirable. In addition, a good firewall cannot be easily disabled from the Task Manager (this can be done with Filseclab Personal Firewall).

Thirdly, the firewall should not slow down the system in any way. For example, in this regard, the ZoneAlarm firewall seriously loses, since it is quite demanding on system resources and can slow down the work of a weak machine.

Also, before making your final choice, it is advisable to test the firewall using a special program 2ip Firewall Tester. Everything else, such as the presence of the Russian language, user-friendliness of the interface, external design, is secondary.

Need to download music from VK?

What is the best firewall ( Firewall) for Windows - this question plagues many Internet users, paid or free, software or hardware. This question can be answered immediately and almost unambiguously: the best firewall ( Firewall) this is a hardware one, but the best firewall ( Firewall) this is the one that is adjusted with straight hands...

As previously mentioned the best firewall ( Firewall) this is hardware, prices for which sometimes reach 50-70 thousand. but today’s topic will be a brief analysis of software firewalls ( Firewall) For Windows in terms of reliability/performance ratio...

Firewall (Firewall) an important element in your PC security arsenal. Unfortunately, the standard firewall ( Firewall) for Windows does not provide the desired functionality and blocks or allows only incoming connections, while all outgoing connections are allowed by default, although the reliability of the built-in Windows firewall (Firewall) without doubt.

The most popular firewalls today ( Firewall) for personal PCs this is:

You need to decide what is the decisive factor for you when choosing - ease of use or reliability/performance?! Above given list of the most common firewalls (Firewall) for Windows, in order of preference by our citizens. We will not delve into the details of each product, but will consider only the main points of the first two...

Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro

Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro developed by domestic programmers and is the most preferred firewall ( Firewall) among ordinary ordinary domestic users who almost never look at " Task Manager". Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro more convenient to use and provides more extensive information about ongoing network events around your PC..

It is easy to use and provides good statistics about what is happening on the network, but ease of use does not mean reliability/performance! Ease of use " Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro"costs the user an overexpenditure of system resources and, in some places, regular BSOD. So for example the combination NOD32 v4.0 + Outpost Firewall 2.x called regular BSOD, Outpost Firewall older ones are more voracious for system resources, especially when downloading large files via fast network connection and from servers with good returns!

The versions of " Outpost Firewall"above the 6th in which the process" acs.exe"When downloading large files over a fast network connection and from servers with good returns, it devours from 15 and up to 50% system resources, and sometimes even higher! And here it doesn’t matter setting the rules or disabling all additional features - it devours system resources ( CPU+Memory) no matter what and even in idle state ( CPU 8-15%)!!! In version " Outpost Firewall 7.5"named" Performance Edition":)) "acs.exe"When idle, it behaves less aggressively, but the time it takes to download large files over a fast network connection and from servers with good performance still eats up from 15 and up to 50%

Version" Outpost Firewall 4"not so voracious, but crashes were often observed when changing user accounts and more! No offense to the company's programmers" Agnitum"but they are still very far from products like" Comodo Firewall Pro", "Comodo Internet Security" or " Checkpoint Firewall-1"! Whatever one may say, Western developers are achieving greater success in the software field than domestic ones...

Comodo Firewall Pro

After long wanderings in search of the best firewall ( Firewall) my choice finally settled on " Comodo Firewall Pro 3.14"which is different from" Outpost Firewall"remarkably stops attempts at incoming connections and does not wildly devour system resources - when idle it uses no more 0-2% CPU and 3-4 MV. In addition, when completely turned off or dropped, " Comodo Firewall Pro 3.14"which is unlikely, there is no access to the network, which cannot be said about " Outpost Firewall".

The program is able to independently analyze each potential threat and, if necessary, issue an appropriate warning. Wherein " Comodo Firewall"recognizes more than 10,000 different applications in various categories ( for example, “safe”, “spyware”, “adware”, etc.).

"Comodo Firewall"also has proactive protection, proactive protection includes HIPS ( Host Intrusion Prevention Systems) - a system for repelling local threats. The task of HIPS is to monitor the operation of applications and block potentially dangerous operations based on specified criteria.

Main characteristics " Comodo Firewall Pro":

• - Full constant control and protection of your personal computer from Internet attacks, Trojans, hackers, malicious scripts and other unknown threats.
• - Free updates - Comodo Firewall Pro will notify you about the availability of updates and, after your consent, will install them.
• - Full control over the activity of programs on the Internet.
• - Control over software updates.
• - Real-time traffic monitoring gives you the ability to instantly respond to possible threats.
• - Simple, intuitive multilingual interface ( including Russian).
• - Free for home and other online users.

"Comodo Firewall Pro"by default it does not provide statistics on all rejected attempts at incoming connections, but if you create certain rules and properly configure it, you can get these statistics. My choice is definitely in favor of " Comodo Firewall Pro 3.14"and I think that it will remain unchanged... Why version 3.14, and not 4.x or 5.x? - yes, because version 3.x concentrates the most basic functions without unnecessary bells and whistles and is less demanding resources than 4.x or 5.x?...

According to the website matousec.com, Comodo products continue to occupy first positions among test participants: http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge/results.php

The truth in " Comodo Firewall Pro"there are no such useful features as blocking active elements and the statistics are poor, but this drawback in favor of saving system resources can be compensated for by the Firefox browser and the AdBlock + NoScript plugins, and if necessary, we will collect statistics with other programs...

wipfw

wipfw is an analogue of the ipfw console firewall, but only for Windows. It has more features compared to the standard firewall from Windows XP. Can limit the number of connections from a specific IP address or range of IP addresses. It is possible to identify packets by the set flags SYN, FIN, etc.

Description Reviews (0) Screenshots

Modern antivirus programs, such as Kaspersky Anti-Virus, include a built-in firewall. But you can download the firewall for Windows 7 separately from any antivirus solution. Moreover, the OS has built-in functions to protect your PC, but you should not rely only on their reliability.

Why do you need a firewall?

As we have already noted, a firewall is an integral link in the security chain not only of Windows 7 devices, but in general of all devices that have access to the Internet. Viruses and other threats await us on this network, which are difficult to fight alone. You can learn more about the need for a firewall on a PC from the following video:

The firewall prevents your computer from becoming infected even before the malware gets to your computer. HDD. Antivirus programs can recognize the virus when it is already on the disk, and the firewall can block its downloading. With a powerful firewall you can:

• Secure your use of the Internet;
• Configure automatic blocking of file downloads;
• Protect your PC from viruses and spyware;

Among all the firewalls for Windows 7, we can highlight . This firewall stands out from all its competitors in that it is free and very powerful. But its power does not prevent the program from working so quietly that after installation you can completely forget about the presence of a firewall on your device. At the same time, Comodo Firewall has rich capabilities for fine tuning. The program was recognized as the best firewall for Windows 7, and that is why on this page you can download the Comodo Firewall firewall and not some other.

Download Firewall for free