Windows has greatly improved its built-in firewall, yet there are other programs that are equally good, or even much better. For this reason, today we will give you a list with the best 10 free firewalls of 2018 for Windows: these are completely free programs, very easy to use and including some really interesting features and options.
Before installing them, however, always make sure to disable the Windows Firewall, to prevent them from entering into conflict. Ready to find out what these alternative options are, in descending order of importance? There is nothing left to do but continue reading.
The best firewalls of 2018
1. Comodo Firewall
In first place in the ranking of the best free firewalls of 2018 for Windows, we find Comodo Firewall. It is a program that offers you a series of options such as blocking advertisements, custom DNS servers, a way to open the doors for gaming and many other goodies to be discovered. In practice, this firewall can easily block any process or program that accesses or receives information from the Internet. Among its best features, to point out the easy customization of the list of programs to be blocked and a really clear and high-performance online guide. Finally, Comodo also has a scanning option to analyze the reliability of all processes in progress.
2. AVS Firewall
Another very interesting program is AVS Firewall: we are talking about a really friendly and easy to use firewall, equipped with one of the clearest interfaces in circulation. It is a program designed to be used by anyone, even those who have never dealt with a firewall. What does this AVS signed software do? In practice, it protects your computer from any malicious changes to the registry, blocks pop-ups, flash banners and most annoying ads that open from the browser. Among other things, it also allows you to block or accept connections with certain IP addresses, closing or opening specific ports, all without sacrificing its ease of use.
3. TinyWall
In our list of the best free firewalls of 2018 for Windows, you can not miss TinyWall: another free program that will protect you from tons of advertising pop-ups, and that works through the Command Prompt. It should be noted that this software also includes an app scanner, so you can scan your computer and add safe programs to a white list. In addition, you can also start TinyWall in “Autoscan” mode, so as to block all unsafe programs that attempt to access the Internet. This also includes potential infections by viruses and malware.
4. NetDefender
Even NetDefender is a firewall for Windows rather simple to use but still performing: although it is not at the level of precedents listed, allows you to block suspicious IP addresses and to close or open the ports of the router to your liking. This means that you can also block FTP connections or any other protocol used on the network. Unfortunately, the blocking functions are a bit limited, because the program can not do much unless it is running. In contrast, NetDefender also includes an interesting port scanner.
5. ZoneAlarm Free Firewall
ZoneAlarm Free Firewall is definitely one of the most famous and used free Windows 2018 free firewalls: also because you can add it to the homonymous antivirus, once you have bought and installed it. It is a program full of security options, depending on different levels of depth that you choose. In fact, this program is able to block all files sent by suspicious hosts, to avoid damaging changes to the registry, and to provide for the closure and opening of doors also based on gaming. It is even able to protect passwords to prevent any kind of changes, and to send continuous reports on the security status of the computer.
6. PeerBlock
PeerBlock is different from most other programs, because instead of blocking the app it works by blocking entire lists of IP addresses in certain categories. This means that PeerBlock is comparable to a real list, used to block access to incoming or outgoing connections. This will allow you to block IPs such as those labeled as P2P and even a large amount of spyware.
7. Privatefirewall
In the list of the best free firewalls of 2018 for Windows, we also find Privatefirewall: a program that allows you to set up three levels of security rules, in terms of access. The aforementioned works as a list, and is really very simple to use to understand which apps have been blocked for security reasons. Also, whenever you change one of these access rules, you can also access a wide range of advanced options about that process.
8. Outpost Firewall
Outpost Firewall could potentially be an excellent program, if it were not for the fact that it is very difficult to use, so totally unsuitable for inexperienced users. Its advanced settings, however, are of great quality and allow you to set a really remarkable level of computer protection: you can customize the rules for security, or let the program do it for you. For the rest, allows you to do the same things seen previously.
9. R-Firewall
R-Firewall is another program that has all the right features in the right place but, just like in the previous case, it is not easy or immediate to use. In addition, there is no online guide that can explain how it works, so you will have to go to attempts: which is not recommended, since it is a program that should protect you. Even here, however, the settings are excellent.
10. Ashampoo FireWall
We decided to dedicate the last position of our list of the best free firewalls of 2018 for Windows to Ashampoo FireWall: a program with a convenient wizard for its settings, and that can be used in basic or advanced mode. Its best feature is the “Learning Mode” function, which begins to allow access to programs based on their use, without you having to manually edit the white list. The Lock function is also great, because it allows you to immediately close all incoming and outgoing connections.