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Best Software Firewalls

It's not easy to provide a single recommendation because firewalls can be very complicated to master.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of managing a separate piece of software, the solution is to buy an integrated Internet Security Suite providing antivirus, firewall and antispam options. In this case, our recommendation is Kaspersky Internet Security.

Its installation follows the same steps as described in the antivirus recommendations section. In that section you could even find a link to the online free scanner, to make sure that your current antivirus is not letting viruses go through.

Together with the unrivalled protection against viruses, Trojans and worms available on the market, both for home and business users, Kaspersky's brand new Internet Security 7.0 offers a much improved and powerful Firewall.

The built-in personal firewall provides new generation protection from intrusions and data leaks. The default settings for popular applications control network and Internet activity using IDS/IPS to prevent hackers from taking over your computer or stealing your data. The stealth mode allows you to surf safely and invisibly, protecting you from becoming a target for hacker attacks.

You can get Kaspersky Internet Security by clicking here.

Important: before installing a new one, please always remove any existing antivirus from your system.

Don't forget that the purpose of a firewall is to block unauthorized attacks from the Internet and unauthorized access to the Internet from programs running on your computer. A firewall does not prevent a virus from contaminating your computer.

If you don't want to spend any money and don't mind fiddling around with a different software, just make sure that the integrated Windows Firewall is enabled, if you have Windows XP SP2.

The old saying "you get what you pay for" inevitably applies to this solution too. Windows XP firewall isn’t a full featured firewall. It doesn't allow you to specifically control each TCP and UDP port and makes no attempts to filter outbound traffic, which means that if a threat has already landed on your computer, e.g. a trojan, Windows Firewal won't do anything to inform you, let alone prevent it to communicate with any computer on the Internet.

If you feel up to the challenge of using a separate full-features software firewall, we recommend that you try Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro.
Outpost's Network Activity Monitor watches every connection between your computer and the Internet, alerting you immediately to any communications that may be unauthorized so you can take appropriate action.
Its Attack Detection automatically blocks network probes, zombie attacks, and other remote attempts to access your PC, using its continually-updated intrusion definitions database.

You can download the trial version from here.