Firewall software recommendation needed

[NickD]

Hi

Can anyone recommend some good firewall software that meets the following wishlist?

1. Will be in short term running on a single PC (no network) with dialup access to host (Clara).
2. Will in longer term be running on single PC with broadband connection - I don't want to buy new firewall SW when I make the change to broadband. Although it's not a requirement, it would be nice if it could run on a network too at a later date.
3. Will work OK with Actinic Catalog v6 and general web/mail stuff. I heard on the grapevine that some people do not recommend Norton for use with Actinic, but I'm not sure why.
4. Will be accepted as being secure by major Banks (Barclays in particular) for the purposes of protecting credit card details storted in plain text on the PC after they have been decryptyed from SSL.
5. Is well supported.
6. Is nice and cheap

All input gratefully received.

Regards

Nick

[mcottam]

A simply firewall that I use is the latest version of Norton Personal Firewall. We have BT broadband connecting to a single PC and the firewall seems to cope fine.

But I am not sure on how the banks view it.

[TheBoyLard]

Re Firewall s/w

Hallo Nick,

thanks for the assist earlier, looks much better now (still can't get the logo right but that will come!)
I told you I could gab all day - for firewall i can heartily recommend ZoneLabs Firewall - it's the only one I know that by default blocks all inbound AND outbound communication. You have set up the rules, which is fairly easy as whenever a programme tries to access the net, or something from the net tries to reach you a little pop up box appears and asks yea or nay. ZoneLabs' database is amongst the best around and the pop-up window has a link for further info which tells you exactly what the programme actually is. To start with use the free download - it beats the pants of the paid for ones.
When you switch to broadband, I suggest a router (do some nice ones if you want!) as this will mask your ip from the net, and you can then pay for the professional version of ZoneAlarm that monitors the router.
This should keep the banks happy, as you have both a hard and soft ware solution.

<a href="http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp" >zonelabs</a>

Any probs shout again.

Andy

[NickD]

Thanks guys, I will investigate both those suggestions.

Nick