Chris L

Nothing major, but Sygate have just released version 5.5 build 2710 of their personal firewall (Pro and the free version). You can download it here

Chris

Nimbus

I stopped using this awhile ago as i was having problems with it. Whenever the PC was started it would not pick up any IPs from DHCP. It was as though it was preventing all network access even if I had it set to "allow all". Took me ages to trace the fault to this program as it was working fine for ages.. Apart from that, it was very good

Chris L

Try the new version then

Of all the personal firewalls I've run - Sygate rates as just about the best one. Much smaller and neater than ZoneAlarm and very effective.

suba

i was wondering about that as well. my router has SPI firewall but still use software firewall on the PCs. do i really need both? would the router firewall as good as those used in corp environment?

Chris L

It's up to you. If you are happy with the built in firewall - then fine. There is nothing wrong with running two firewalls if you so wish (you'll find a few paranoid IT security chaps do this (me inlcuded ), but it is not essential. Sygate offer a version which is free for personal use - so there is no harm in trying it.

I run Sygate on my work laptop and we have some serious firewalls and security products running - however today I picked up a port scan from an internal PC. The most likely cause is someone using their laptop at home, getting infected and then bringing it into work. How to circumnavigate a corporate security policy So there is some benefit to having a second firewall running on your desktop (in the same way that many firms now run two different anti virus systems - one at the perimeter and a different one on the desktop). I wouldn't say it is so critical for home use though.

The only thing I would say against the built in firewalls is - when was the last time they were updated? Are there any bug fixes available? might be worth checking your manufacturers site just in case.

Chris

suba

i started using firewall with zonealarm years ago, and only started using sygate. pretty happy with it so far. now starting to use symantec client firewall (with SAV9) as they are being deploy in the office.