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Thread ID: 77330	2007-03-05 23:01:00	Any free firewalls for vista yet?	lazydog (148)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
530528	2007-03-07 09:45:00	Well I find vista just plain awful. I must admit I downloaded the retail version from bittorrent and used it for a while in an attempt to "Give it a 2nd chance since RC2, to see if the retail was an improvement over RC2 and try to figure out how to use it properly" - also office 2007 (both without product keys, so they were effectively 30-day demos) I don't think the activation period needs to be any more than a few days as the whole lot was off my HDD before those 30 days could run out. Best feeling was the day when I rebooted back into XP and thought "OMG. a GUI and OS that's actually usable!!!!" I still don't know why I allocated 25GB of my disk to it :S Removing vista's insane boot manager was fun also. By the time XP goes out of all possible use, I hope Microsoft has come up with some other OS that actually works.	Agent_24 (57)
530529	2007-03-07 09:49:00	So, what was unusable, please tell, I am still evaluating. Is it your existing programmes that dont work, the annoying UAC, unstable?	SolMiester (139)
530530	2007-03-07 23:53:00	I have had Vista installed for a month now. I REALLY want it to work and I don't have pre-conceived anti views. But I have found frustrations that cause me to select the XP boot drive as my std drive. First biggie, had to replace my old PCI sound card. The new Creative Audigy SE does work, though, much to my relief. There are two pieces of software I really wanted to work reliably. One is GBPVR (media centre/PVR) and the other is a radio control flight sim (FMS). GBPVR runs OK but its link to the media extender (Hauppauge MVP) is dodgy (Hauppauge firmware). The FMS software runs, surprisingly, but the interface software that reads the sound card data from the transmitter does not. Then I found Nero doesn't work. More expense to replace it. This, also, is a well used bit of software. UAC is no problem as I disabled it! I wanted to change a file in the windows directory. Can't do that, even as admin. Haven't worked out how to get the rights to do it so gave up. No games port support so presume my force feedback joystick is now useless. There are many other progs I have not installed yet so I bet there are others that don't work. When you run XP you expect everything to work and it usually does. You get a comfortable mindset. But the Vista mindset is quite different - you are pleased when things do work but you are waiting for another disappointing experience! Many hardware suppliers just do not have good (or any!) dvrs yet. Even big firms are so late with dvr production. It's a gamble buying hardware. Just look at the listed supported OS's - how many have Vista listed? I am headed for an even worse scenario as I support a friend's systems and he is about to upgrade his main desktop which also runs GBPVR and an MVP. What to do? It seemed natural to get Vista with this machine but that really is not a goer. And you recommend Vista then find later that he has to buy new software that you didn't know wouldn't work. Lots of room for unpleasantness. The retailers are OK as they sell Vista machines with no legacy software on it. Of course it works when it leaves the shop! They don't guarantee anything else will run flawlessly, though, I'll bet. So, I guess I will plod along hoping patches will smooth out the problems. If I have to I will cough up again for software that I really use but the irony is that I only jumped in early so I could support newly bought machines and the first one that comes along I will probably have to get XP on it! Sorry to sound negative but it has been a bit of a bruising experience so far. I do like lots of things about Vista, and really want to cut across permanently, but the transition is not easy for me.	linw (53)
530531	2007-03-08 00:10:00	Just picked this ( . pctools . com/firewall/" target="_blank">www . pctools . com) up when I was checking out a firewall newsgroup . Looks like its free (you have the option of registering it for free as well) . And it's Vista 32 bit compatible, and also works with XP/2003 Server, and Windows 2000 . Dont know what its like . I havent tried it yet . According to the replies in the newsgroup: It doesnt turn off the Windows firewall you'll have to disable it . Also, by default it doesn't ask permission to allow access for "known" applications . It's less complex than Comodo Firewall Pro . PC Tools Firewall Plus does not have "application component control" and it does not track the parent/child chain when one app calls another to connect to the internet . In other words, it will ask if you want to allow svchost . exe to connect to the internet, but it doesn't see the application calling svchost . exe . Comodo FP is much better in this respect . Still, if you're running Vista it's a lot better than the built-in firewall which gives no feedback . However, be aware that a problem has been identified with version 2 . 0 . 0 . 9 that causes it to completely block the internet connection . A fix is promised ASAP and I would wait for it before installing the firewall if you have not already . I dont know what version its upto on the site, it just says V2 .	Speedy Gonzales (78)
530532	2007-03-08 01:00:00	Until a firewall comes out for Vista, the built in one is good enough . ?, I dont understand, whats wrong with Vista? So, what was unusable, please tell, I am still evaluating . Is it your existing programmes that dont work, the annoying UAC, unstable? tit tut tut! Boys & Girls, really now, have we learnt nothing over the past week or so, are our cognisant processes so choked up with cruft, our memories so poor, our reasoning so addled, our discretion so blinkered that we have to over all this again? Let's have no more of this silly talk eh! Where on earth it could all end if you persist lord only knows . Desist .	Murray P (44)
530533	2007-03-08 05:16:00	So, what was unusable, please tell, I am still evaluating . Is it your existing programmes that dont work, the annoying UAC, unstable? Most apps that run perfect on XP refused to install and those that did usually couldn't run anyway - and the ones that did actually work would generate some "unverified publisher" error which I couldn't figure out how to turn off . UAC is extremely annoying, and the transition from normal windows to the dimmed UAC-Alert screen isn't smooth like everything else in Aero (not really a problem but I'm sure they could have made it work nicely) And even if I turned UAC off, it still bitched at me constantly with a tray icon and balloon telling me to turn it back on (and I couldn't turn THAT off) Stability was also an issue, explorer . exe would often crash, though that may have been due to me installing numerous programs that didn't run properly, I can't confirm that . The stupidest thing that happened, was I installed CA-Ez Trust Antivirus, the same (old version) which previously had worked nicely on beta 2 and RC2, however the retail vista refused to acknowledge it as a "trusted and verified publisher/app" and so refused to let it load at startup, as it "might be a security risk" . with a lovely little tray icon to tell me that, where I could launch said blocked AV from . once again, there was no sensible "Allow this program to always run at startup" check-box or anything like that . After downloading the latest version of that AV, it worked fine however - but still very stupid on vista/microsofts part . Also the network centre is quite confusing, having like 2 seperate things between the connection and the actual NIC or device you're actually using for connection . Other things like display settings are all over the place, background here, resolution here, screensaver somewhere else - unlike XP where it's all in the one window and tabbed . And that's the other thing, there doesn't seem to be any consistency with the layout of any of the configuration options, on one thing they'll be in a tabbed window, in another a list in something else, and some random scroll setup idea in another thing . All very confusing and strange .	Agent_24 (57)
530534	2007-03-08 09:26:00	And that's the other thing, there doesn't seem to be any consistency with the layout of any of the configuration options, on one thing they'll be in a tabbed window, in another a list in something else, and some random scroll setup idea in another thing. All very confusing and strange. The inconsistency isn't so strange if you have a closer look at the various windows, tabs and boxes, or do a little scraping & scratching behind the scenes. If you get your magnifying glass out, you can just see the Apple/Mac icons, where they've been covered over, or KDE's, a wee Gnome or 2 and I'm sure I saw an OS/2 badge somewhere in there, though we knew about that anyway. It just goes to show how good they are, not everyone could cobble together such a disparate grab bag of code and make it work [sic]. Truly Innovative (c) :)	Murray P (44)
530535	2007-03-10 21:52:00	Just picked this (www.pctools.com) up when I was checking out a firewall newsgroup. Looks like its free (you have the option of registering it for free as well). And it's Vista 32 bit compatible, and also works with XP/2003 Server, and Windows 2000. Dont know what its like. I havent tried it yet..... Hi It might be of interest to everyone here, when I installed PC tools firewall AVG antivirus software (free edition) warned me that the file "update.exe" bundled with this software was a trojan horse. (Generic3.JJG) After uninstalling the firewall, windows (vista) still thought the firewall was still running. Not impressed at all. It took a system restore to return things back to normal. Just thought I'd let everyone know.. lotse	lotse (11963)
530536	2007-03-10 23:09:00	Why not just use the inbuilt firewall that comes with vista? surely it's better than nothing	Agent_24 (57)
530537	2007-03-10 23:19:00	Why not just use the inbuilt firewall that comes with vista? surely it's better than nothing I dont think its any better than XP's. Even tho it blocks outgoing traffic (I think)	Speedy Gonzales (78)
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