Tuesday Tech Tip #3 - Free Firewall Software

Last week I pointed out two good, free Anti-Virus programs. Now, onto the free firewalls. Obviously, the best solution is a physical (hardware) firewall. If you don't have one, you need a software firewall. And even if you do have some hardware, having a software firewall as a second layer of security is always a good idea.

I personally use Comodo. It's a powerful firewall with many advanced features for the geeks in us, but also several default settings that are easy for novice users as well. For the vast array of features it offers, it is not very intrusive and it is not a resource hog.

The second firewall is ZoneAlarm. I have not personally used ZoneAlarm, but in doing research I found that Comodo and ZoneAlarm have consistently had the best reviews. There are several people that I know that use ZoneAlarm and all of them would recommend it. Part of the CNET review- "In all our tests, the firewall guarded against all external and internal threats it encountered. ZoneAlarm is an excellent firewall choice for just about any average user."

Always remember though, there are going to be times when you have to tweak settings with a firewall, or even temporarily disable it, because it is interfering with something you are trying to intentionally do. The firewall's job is to interfere with things that you are not trying to do, so if you sometimes get caught in the cross hairs, it's ok. Just remember to turn it back on!

Next week: Spyware!