6 of 6

Write now Article Tools

There are several home firewall products in the market today. Given the amount of spam and spurious programs sent through email, chats or downloads, it is very important for every home computer to stay protected by using a firewall. Last year, I had a tough time when a rogue program installed a botnet on my laptop. I could not get rid of it no matter what I did. The last option was to do a fresh install. The other option was to install a firewall and I did that by installing a product provided by my internet service provider. This helped to protect my machine and since then I have become a big fan of firewall.

There are two ways of looking at the top firewall products. One is according to price and another is popularity. Let us consider the price-wise category first. The cheapest and best value for money is from Windows XP Firewall. This comes installed on your computer or laptop when you buy a certified Windows XP or higher program. This program has all the features that regular firewall programs have. Besides, the other advantage is it does not require must setup or installation. All it requires is enabling the radio button to ensure firewall is active. You can also put programs on its list to ensure these programs are restricted. But the flip side is that this product does not have any reporting capabilities. All it can do is quarantine programs so that they do not get launched in the background.

If you are looking to install the best firewall program then you need to get the Zone Alarm product. It not only provides a firewall but provides an entire security suite that includes anti-virus programs, scan scheduler etc. I have used it personally when my previous organization adopted this product as the company-wide security software. In terms of ranking, this product would perhaps be 'numero uno'!

Another product that is coming up by leaps and bounds is Outpost. This is a product from a company called 'Agnitum'. This product has rich features and characteristics. Some of the important features include port blocking, packet filtering. Besides it is easy to install and provides detailed reports and does event logging as well.

The other way to get a firewall going on your computer is to use programs provided by your Internet Service Providers. Most providers like Comcast, TimesWarner and others provide a free download of a licensed version of some security program. It could be Norton or CA or any other product. These always work great and serve their purpose.

Clearly the choices are clear, if you are looking for something cheap then XP firewall may be for you. If you want a great software then Zone Alarm or Outpost will do the job for you. The choice is yours.

Learn more about this author, Saurabh Pal.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about What are the best home firewall products??
We want to hear your view. Write now!