Top Ten Firewalls 2010 - Comparison of Firewalls

This list of the top ten firewalls is based on the ease of use and number of downloads from CNET.COM. The basic nature of a firewall is to prevent people from stealing your data while protecting your computer from phishing attacks from other computers in the network. No firewall should be setup and forget software. You need to know what is happening on your Internet/network connection. You need to receive alerts about applications accessing the Internet without your knowledge or approval and about anyone from the Internet accessing your computer. You should be able to understand these alerts so that you can allow or deny access to Internet or from the Internet. The ease of understanding the alerts is also a criterion for this list of top ten firewalls.

You may select any of the listed top ten firewalls - just remember to turn off the default Windows Firewall before you install them. If you intend to stick with Windows 7's default firewall, you should not use any other firewall. More than one firewall may create conflicts whereby you may lose communication packets (data transmission is done by breaking and creating data packets of equal size preceded by the destination IP address). Now that you know the basic rules for using a firewall, let us look at the list for 2010.

ZoneAlarm Pro firewall stands first in my list of top ten firewalls. Though Comodo firewall could have been here, Zonealarm's easy to understand alerts gives it a position above Comodo. Though Comodo and Zonealarm both present many alerts, you can easily understand the alerts presented by Zonealarm. The Zonealarm firewall also offers you additional details if you need before determining any action - allow or block. While using Comodo, I knew someone was constantly trying to access my computer. With Zonealarm, I knew it was my ISP authenticating the connection every few minutes. Due to this feature, Zonealarm firewall gets a place above Comodo firewall in my list of top 10 firewalls. You can download free Zonealarm firewall version from CNET as well. ZoneAlarm Pro, the paid version, has some added features that include real time support.

Comodo firewall stands second in my top 10 firewall list only due to its complex messages. Only a person with some knowhow of computer's communication ports - 25, 110, 1010, and similar - can fully understand the alerts. For example, your computer employs port 25 to receive email messages. The Firewall is available with the paid Comodo Internet Security Suite (trialware), or as a FREE standalone firewall. The multilayered protection keeps an eye on all of the computer ports, even the inactive ones. You can download Comodo Standalone Firewall from the Comodo website. While installing, you get the option to include Comodo antivirus as well.

Built into F-Secure Internet Security Suite, the F-Secure 2010 firewall stands at third position in my list. Though you have an option to install each of the components individually, the package is not free so you would rather use the entire package (that includes F-Secure antivirus as well). The F-Secure antivirus is also rated among the top 10 antivirus list, second to Kapersky AV.

Coming to the F-Secure 2010 firewall, it offers protection against malware by keeping a constant vigil over all the active ports of your computer. The alerts are few but it does not mean that the software is not active. It is just to offer ease of use.

One of the interesting components of F-Secure 2010 is a new technology called DeepGuard. It keeps on patrolling the entire computer to look for malware as well as spam and phishing email. So in effect, you have an email spam-filter free with F-Secure!

After checking out the top 3 firewalls on this page, let us review the remaining in my list of top 10 firewalls on the next page.