Private Firewall 7 - NEED HELP

[Paul.R]

Hi!

I want to know some opinions about Private Firewall 7. Now I'm using Windows Firewall, I want to do some changes.

Thanks!

Have a nice day!

 

[alexp79]

hello

i use it again now with eset and i used it also last year with MSE and also with avira

PF is a good firewall option, if you need something more than window firewall; it has firewall and hips modules.

My opinion on it:
- light on ressources, maybe the lightest one in this category (firewall with hips)
- Easy to use if you understand english and if you read the good pdf guide (on privacyware website).
- Few popups in general if you leave it by default and if you don't have million of unknown programs^^.
- strong firewall in many tests.
- One of the highest compatible firewall with antivirus software, from my experience.
- Bugs free firewall, never encountered any bugs with it.
- Frequent updates; last version update was in january 13
- Good support; they answer you fast.

If you want to try it, don't be surprise at first reboot if you experience few minutes freeze, PF learn your computer; don't touch anything and leave it working. After that all is fast and easy^^

Hope my opinion can help yu^^

 

[Paul.R]

Hi!

Many thanks Alex!

Have a nice day!

 

[Littlebits]

Like to add Privatefirewall is much easier to configure compared to Comodo and Online Armor and is less likely to have bugs or cause compatibility problems.

Not all HIPS features are enabled by default which makes it more user friendly. To enable all HIPS features- Settings- Advanced- "Enable Process Detection". "System Anomaly Detection" is enable by default in training period for 7 days after first install. If you use an email client you can also enable "Email Anomaly Detection", if you use only web email then this is not required.

To disable HIPS features just uncheck Enable Process Detection and System Anomaly Detection. No reboot required to switch features on or off.

The only thing which I don't like about Privatefirewall is when upgrading it is always recommended to export settings, uninstall old version, reboot, install new version and import settings. However taking these extra steps will guarantee your installation and settings are preserved.

Enjoy!!

 

[alexp79]

hello littlebits

Thanks for those add; i never change default settings in PF; if you enable process detection in settings, do you leave learning period by default (3 days) or it's better to train more? does it make much more popups in your opinion?

true that there are no automatic updates but in other way it can be a good thing; user can update its product when he wants and updates are only few time a year^^

I agree it's a very stable product compare to comodo and much userfriendly and light than online armor^^

 

[Littlebits]

I just use default settings "process detection" disabled, if you use UAC and utilize it then process detection is not a needed feature.

If you do decide to enable it then yes enable training for at least 3 days because it can learn your system's processes.

Yes it will display more notifications for processes that have not been learned in the training period. But is has have a whitelist click on "Trusted Publishers" you can remove the ones that you don't trust. It will check processes for digital signatures and if the process has a signature that matches the Trusted Publishers it will be allowed by default, if not then it will ask you.

Thanks.

 

[MalwareVirus]

Good firewall,i used it before comodo,default setting is enough,pluse not heavy

 

[woomera]

except for the UI its a fantastic firewall. really powerful.

 

[Ink]

Nothing better than PrivateFirewall, but being critical I rated it 4 stars (Very Good) due to the ageing UI. Else, an excellent 5-star program.

My favourite 3rd-party Firewall with IDS, no bloat. Only 3.6MB!!

 

[tapoo]

^^ @Earth
What is IDS???

 

[Ink]

I meant to say HIPS. Though, IDS stands for Intrusion Detection System.

 

[Amiga500]

Never again will i go near this firewall.Installed it and upon reboot the whole computer froze solid and forced a hard reset.Tried it again and repeat of the freeze issue.

Thats a summary of my brief encounter with privatefirewall.

 

[Littlebits]

Never again will i go near this firewall.Installed it and upon reboot the whole computer froze solid and forced a hard reset.Tried it again and repeat of the freeze issue.

Thats a summary of my brief encounter with privatefirewall.

You must have had compatibility issues with other security software.

I have had the same thing happen to me with Comodo, Online Armor and PC Tools Firewall including BSOD and crashes but never with Privatefirewall.

After the first reboot after installing Privatefirewall, the system will take awhile to boot and may appear to freeze, but if you wait until Privatefirewall learns you system processes then it will run very smooth after that point. You may have not gave it enough time before assuming your system was frozen. Removing extra items from your system's startup before the first reboot will make it faster. If you have a lot of system startup items your system may take much longer to boot after the first install of Privatefirewall.

Thanks.

 

[alexp79]

thanks littlebits but as you i prefer to leave it by default; like this it's perfectly compatible with eset and easy to use^^

Amiga, if you read my first post, this freeze during few minutes (for me 1 or 2 minutes) is normal; it learns your computer; if you can be patient those few minutes all other reboots are normal and fast.
I install and uninstall this firewall many times without any issues; just to be patient after first reboot^^

If you experience other issue like BSOD, you can say thanks maybe to comodo uninstall process, as privatefirewall isn't known to cause BSOD in general^^
same opinion as littlebits, i never experience any problem with PF but i experienced crashes with comodo by the past; why i will never use it again

 

[Amiga500]

Any ideas why privatefirewall does not stealth its ports and even reports one port is open.(According to the shields up website).?

I use mobile broadband so could this be an issue.?
Thanks.

 

[Littlebits]

Any ideas why privatefirewall does not stealth its ports and even reports one port is open.(According to the shields up website).?

I use mobile broadband so could this be an issue.?
Thanks.

Do you have Network sharing enabled on your HomeGroup settings?

Which ports are not stealth and open?
Do you use a router with a firewall enabled?

Thanks.

 

[Amiga500]

Any ideas why privatefirewall does not stealth its ports and even reports one port is open.(According to the shields up website).?

I use mobile broadband so could this be an issue.?
Thanks.

Do you have Network sharing enabled on your HomeGroup settings?

Which ports are not stealth and open?
Do you use a router with a firewall enabled?

Thanks.

No.network sharing is not enabled.
All of the ports are in a closed state which is about as secure as a stealth status.

This is the reason i ditched privatefirewall which is a pity as its a nice little firewall.

 

[Littlebits]

Any ideas why privatefirewall does not stealth its ports and even reports one port is open.(According to the shields up website).?

I use mobile broadband so could this be an issue.?
Thanks.

Do you have Network sharing enabled on your HomeGroup settings?

Which ports are not stealth and open?
Do you use a router with a firewall enabled?

Thanks.

No.network sharing is not enabled.
All of the ports are in a closed state which is about as secure as a stealth status.

This is the reason i ditched privatefirewall which is a pity as its a nice little firewall.

I just tested my system with ShieldsUp using Privatefirewall on default settings with my router firewall disabled and all of my ports are stealth.

So I don't know what could be causing the problem without knowing which ports were not stealth.

Thanks.

 

[alexp79]

hello

Same as me, all ports are stealth with default settings; don't know what happened in your case

 

[aztony]

Well I am a little late to the party but here goes. Having used Privatefirewall over 2 yrs, I can attest to it being an exemplary firewall. In my experience PFW had been a valiant trooper that only misbehaved when an errant version of avast was introduced and I remedied that but promptly expelling avast. As some have mentioned the GUI could use a makeover, and logs could be more comprehensive. Never had an issue with bugs with PFW. Right now I am trialing OA 7 final that was released a couple days ago and already found a bug with Domain blocking in Win7. It doesn't work, but it appears to work fine in XP.

Edit: Domains blocked in OA cannot be accessed via Firefox, but can be accessed with IE. Strange.