TallEmu has released a free version of its' excellent Online Armor 2.0 which includes a rules based firewall and a HIPS integrated seamlessly. For more information on the differences between the free and paid versions see this link:

http://www.tallemu.com/comparisons.html

Link to all the versions for downloading:

http://www.tallemu.com/free_trial.html

The free version is the one at the lower part of the page.

I have been a beta tester of OA for some months, and I personally am now using the paid version on all my systems.

I also have the paid version of Online Armor 2 and it is very nice. It is only my 2nd HIPS program and it very gentle on new users. The free version is definitely worth a try.

innerpeace

I recently switched from Comodo to the free version of OA.
The free version is impressive!

PCBruiser, how much did you pay for Online Armor?

I am on the Beta test team, and so am using Beta versions that are several versions ahead of the released version. Members of the Beta team have free access to all three versions of OA - the free one, OA alone and OA + Kaspersky; plus, we have debug logging versions of all three as well for testing purposes.

Example, this morning we got v2.1.0.22 which is perhaps 5 or 6 versions in front of the current released one. It works fine, BTW. It has several new features as well as some small bug fixes.

Yes, it is well designed, under constant active development and testing by a very enthusiastic beta test panel. The newest versions have some new features that are still in development, including an improved installer, and some major improvements in the way current features work. The testing betas are released almost daily, new ideas are tried, and either kept and improved, or scrapped depending on what the beta test panel think.

It is good to see that one of the staff here being involved in trying something beyond the usual old and out of date freebies that everyone recommends out of tradition.

BTW a word of caution about joining such beta teams...

When I first started out getting interested in such things I also got into the game of joining such closed beta teams (even got paid for a rare few of the jobs), and the more i learnt, the easier it was to get in and even now, i occasionally get offers to join (after i send them an email with some observations of their products)

But now I almost always decline or don't join, because I find being in such groups tends to distorts one's objectivity.

Part of it is because after spending so much time helping test and improve it, it gets very hard to keep objective due to emotional investment (being part of the "team" and all that and the time spent on it).

And then there is the pride of being one of the chosen few, who get secret previlaged access to what others don't get... Obviously this would be of greater value, the more one can convince others (and oneself) that the product is the top of the line product that everyone should have...

It is also very easy to over-rate the level of support received, because you end of being one of the guys the vendor knows very well, and he tends to give your comments extra note cos he knows you are one of the guys who makes good comments and observations and also cos he knows you are a opinion leader and should be serviced well, but other "ordinary" people might not get as much speedy response or service.

Add the fact that your testing means you are only very familiar with ONE product and not the rest, it is very likely to over-value what you know (availability heuristic bias) , without considering the fact that what you don't know might be critical (in this case, while what you know about your product is true, what you don't know about other superior competiting products might be even more critical).

Obviously, It is very easy to get too close and before you know it, you are a fanboy of the product.

I've seen so *many* people fall into the trap....

Not saying that everyone might but it was just a thought and a warning to people who might consider this point when listening to people who are extremely proud of being closed beta-test users who have access to software that are several versions ahead of the released version ...

Consider whether the writer might perhaps not be all that objective due to these reasons...

With all due respect, I think my remarks are completely objective since I also do beta testing on another well known and widely used firewall, and have done so for years now. My test system uses several FDISR environments, with at least one for each brand and version of firewall I am currently testing. And, I have done beta testing for a number of different types of software that interests me as well, so beta testing is nothing new for me.

Furthermore, while I do prefer OA to other ones I have personally tried and tested, "the best" is usually based on how well it works for you, and how easy you find the GUI. So, my recommendation is to try a couple and then choose the one you prefer. My recommendations for free firewalls are the following, in no particular order:

OA Free
ZoneAlarm Free
Sunbelt Free
Comodo

Then make your own choice.

http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tests-results.php

http://membres.lycos.fr/nicmtests/Unhookers/unhooking_tests.htm

ErikAlbert, are you for real or just like to
stir the pot???

I think I can name one of them

Just a note from a new user of OA paid version. If you are looking for a good FW that is well configured and easy to use (for us non techie's) this is it. If you are a techie who likes to tweek, just put it in Advanced mode, otherwise leave it in standard mode and forget it. I trialed it for a few weeks just to be sure there weren't any problems and bought it. It's just as advertised on their web page. Great support too on their forum.

PCBruiser - thanks for mentioning this. I've installed it and at this point strongly considering buying the full version. The user interface makes OA pretty easy to use, and it's also pretty easy on system resources.

My only concern is that the "Shields Up" website: https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

...finds that 5 of my ports are open to the world. Checking OA reveals a rule allowing this, in order to provide access to tcpsvcs.exe, TCP in and UDP in.

I don't like it - should I be worried?

If I kill the rules opening these ports, will it create a system problem?

Thanks.

Hi, I have the same 5 port rules as you do, but I am completely stealthed when I run the GRC ShieldsUp!. I would suggest you post in the OA Forum on that one, because OA should be stealthing those ports from unrequested inbound packets. The only packets it should permit inbound are those your system has requested. Since ShieldsUp! packets are all unrequested by design, OA should be closing those ports and dropping those packets.