Do third party inbound firewalls give a false sense of security?

Do third party firewalls give a false sense of security?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 20.0%
  • No

    Votes: 16 80.0%

  • Total voters
    20

motox781

Level 10
Thread author
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Well-known
Apr 1, 2015
483
In the home computing environment (post windows 7), do software based inbound firewalls in many security suites or standalone give a false sense of security nowadays?

I've been at fault for this and assume other Windows based third party firewalls are somehow better than Windows built in firewall. To be honest though, is there much substance to back this up?

I know you could argue outbound effectiveness and ease of use, but in general...is it really necessary?

Thanks for your time!
 
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Reactions: _CyberGhosT_
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hjlbx

In the home computing environment (post windows 7), do software based inbound firewalls in many security suites or standalone give a false sense of security nowadays?

I've been at fault for this and assume other Windows based third party firewalls are somehow better than Windows built in firewall. To be honest though, is there much substance to back this up?

I know you could argue outbound effectiveness and ease of use, but in general...is it really necessary?

Thanks for your time!

If you are behind NAT router with stateful packet inspection, then no.

If you have laptop and use public wifi, then yes.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things enabled in Windows Firewall as it is shipped from Windows that should be tweaked for maximum security.

There was a recent post there at MT about McAfee. There was a link inside the article to a guide on how to disable some things for max security.

@frogboy posted that McAfee article.
 

_CyberGhosT_

Level 53
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Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Aug 2, 2015
4,286
I would have to say yes they do.
There was a time when this kind of concern was valid and warranted , but the reliability of Windows firewall is much improved.
If you have the resources to spare, running a 3rd party firewall (if it makes the user feel better) or they are in love with HIPS may not be a bad idea, but basing it on the quality of Windows Firewall is just not accurate anymore (IMHO). PeAcE
 

jamescv7

Level 85
Verified
Honorary Member
Mar 15, 2011
13,070
Inbound protection is meant to be care by your router by configuring and sometimes adjusting may only cause trouble if not aware on networking concepts. Honestly many products does not improve the firewall module but rather focus on outbound protection where many layers are covered.
 
D

Deleted member 2913

It depends...

I guess in countries like USA, etc... mostly internet service providers provide router.
I am from India. And here very few internet service providers provide router. So people who have multiple systems, etc... get their own router. People with single system at home dont get router.

And firewall depends on products too. Most people use default settings. And quite a few products FW in default settings is kinda same as Windows FW. So its not necessary that a 3rd party FW is better than Windows FW.
 

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