Advice Request How good is Avast Free AV's Firewall?

[JasonUK]

Avast free AV (since v21.7) now includes a free firewall but there's very little information out there on whether it's any good or if it's an improvement on Windows' own firewall particularly if WIndows Firewall has been hardened with Andy Ful's Firewall Hardening tool.

Can anyone offer any insight on the relative benefits / downsides of enabling Avast's firewall over the basic Window's one? The presumption here is obviously Avast's AV is being used in preference to Defender. I'm inclined to stick with WIndows firewall as a) it works, b) it's part of Windows & c) you can configure & harden it to a degree whereas Avast's seems, judging by Avast forum comments, to be largely set & forget but with little control.

 

[Captain Holly]

Well, some people at this thread are not real happy with it..

Avast Community

forum.avast.com

 

[Local Host]

The new Avast Firewall is pretty poor for Advanced Users, even Windows Firewall provides more customization.

 

[Andy Ful]

Avast free AV (since v21.7) now includes a free firewall but there's very little information out there on whether it's any good or if it's an improvement on Windows' own firewall particularly if WIndows Firewall has been hardened with Andy Ful's Firewall Hardening tool.

Can anyone offer any insight on the relative benefits / downsides of enabling Avast's firewall over the basic Window's one? The presumption here is obviously Avast's AV is being used in preference to Defender. I'm inclined to stick with WIndows firewall as a) it works, b) it's part of Windows & c) you can configure & harden it to a degree whereas Avast's seems, judging by Avast forum comments, to be largely set & forget but with little control.

I have a friend who uses medical software. Unfortunately, Avast Firewall blocked connections to the server. I tried to whitelist the connections but without success. Anyway, for average home users, Avast with Firewall is good protection comparable with Defender + Windows Firewall + enabled Defender Network Protection. FirewallHardening can enhance Windows Firewall default protection by adding rules for blocking the outbound connections of LOLBins.

Edit.
Of course, one should remember that Avast Firewall is not as good as top firewalls when protecting against botnets and financial malware.

 

[brambedkar59]

Well, Free version doesn't have firewall anymore.

 

[Moonhorse]

Well, Free version doesn't have firewall anymore.

View attachment 267942

It has , but not advanced one

 

[brambedkar59]

It has , but not advanced one

Well their website needs to be more clear , cause by just looking at that comparison you would think Free version doesn't have any firewall.

Edit: After browsing their website more it seems they have two free products: Avast Free & Avast One Essential. Later one has the firewall.