Anyone using Kerio Personal Firewall?

[wedg1e]

When I got my ntl broadband connection, I was advised by folk in the know that a firewall would be a good idea, otherwise my PC would be raped mercilessly.
Accordingly, I installed Black Ice Defender (cos it was free ) but found that, although it advised me what was going on, it didn't really seem to be stopping anyone from getting in, no matter how I set it up.
So I had a quick Google and found this Kerio thing. Now it seems to be the exact opposite; it's so bloody good NOTHING gets through it! It's advising me that tx/rx transfer speeds are less than 1Kb/s at times - rarely more than 2K.
Pistonheads (in fact most other sites as well) pages take an eternity to open. OK, so I get no popups, but it would be nice to see SOMETHING..
For the moment I have closed all links to Kazaa, cos the P2P seems to be where a lot of the intrusions were coming from: I don't mind Kazaa having access for file sharing, but not the whole bloody world.
I can get a list of what 'rules' are set up for what ports, IP addresses, Windows services etc., but as I'm as thick as a whale omelette I haven't worked out what should or shouldn't be stamped on. I can get basic internet functionality and email OK; it seems to be acting more like an antivirus than a firewall.
Any thoughts? Although it'll probably take me till February to open the page again...

Ian

[d-man]

I'm using Kerio, but I've not had any problems with it so I dont know how much help I can be.

It asks me if I want to allow an application to access the internet, I check the 'Create Appropriate Filter rule and don't ask me again' box and then hit the permit or deny button as appropriate. Might have to do this a couple of times for each app (for TCP and UDP) and it then goes away and doesn't bother me again If its slowed my connection down, I can't tell.

I've set up a few rules explicitly to get some P2P apps working to the fullest, block all incoming connections that I haven't otherwise permitted without the annoying popup and let me run game servers, but other than that its pretty hassle free.

[Simpo Two]

ZoneAlarm do a free one that seems well respected, and I have no problems with it. It puts the PC in stealth mode and warns me if something tries to get out!
Also, my ISP does a kind of firewall that operates at their end - it's not a download, you just check the box.

[Mr E]

I use Kerio as well, and have had no problems with it.

When you disable it do things improve?

[chrishillcoat]

I've got Kerio at home. Basically, when you see the popup warnings, do one of two things:

- If it pops up randomly and has an address ending in .nl or .ru (dodgy Russian mafia) then DENY it.

- If it pops up when you click on something (eg. a submit button) then click "create filter rule" and PERMIT it.

Works for me

[wedg1e]

Update: I tried turning Kerio off and nothing improved. Seemed a bit odd; slow running definitely coincided with me installing it a few days back. Tried a reboot, no difference. Reinstalled Kerio and hey presto, it finds the existing set of rules, but speed is back to what it should be. Now though, I get more popups! Doh.... anyway it looks a lot better than it did.
As mentioned, I do see a lot of .nl, .ru etc. Also a lot of French addresses for some reason?
Will have to pluck up courage to try Kazaa again.
Thanks for the tips!

Ian