Software firewall for Windows ?

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-11-18 00:59:20

Can anybody recommend a software firewall for Windows that can block out incoming IPs ? It's for my BF1942 server.

Last edited by X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X (2012-12-03 08:03:08)

s[sk] · 2012-11-18 01:05:41

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X wrote:

Can anybody recommend a software firewall for Windows that can block out incoming IPs ? It's for my 1942 server.

comodo?

or switch to linux ;-)

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-11-18 02:09:46

Ok, thx s[sk] .... will check out this Comodo thing

Last edited by X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X (2012-11-18 20:16:27)

bud · 2012-11-18 02:46:19

Seems to be hard to find some nifty software for windows, comodo is good but a bit heavy just to do one thing with, then theres PktFilter which i guess is the equivalent to IPtables

Maybe PeerGuardian or PeerBlock could be an alternative, havent tried them myself so im not sure

tuia · 2012-11-18 13:31:36

PktFilter is similar to Iptables, but not as powerful. Another alternative is WIPFW. PktFilter and WIPFW have no graphical user interface (GUI), though.

George · 2012-11-18 16:49:31

best firewalling free soft, or pro ,is zonealarm firewall, with fantastic manual settings for any port

nämeless · 2012-11-18 17:28:18

You also can try to use "netsh" command in Windows console to create filters for blocking single IPs, ranges of addresses and subnets.

bud · 2012-11-19 16:06:33

tuia wrote:

PktFilter is similar to Iptables, but not as powerful. Another alternative is WIPFW. PktFilter and WIPFW have no graphical user interface (GUI), though.

I just installed WIPFW on my box and i think it works great, didn´t even have to reboot the system. Also there is a simple GUI to this program, haven´t gone into depts with it but its works perfect for what i´m using it for.

edit: the gui is a separate download and i think was a beta release

Last edited by bud (2012-11-19 18:03:36)

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-11-19 19:01:16

Thx for all the suggestions ..... keep 'em coming

Tried Zonealarm, Comodo, Peerguardian so far, and others you haven't mentioned, but didn't like any of them.

Criteria : Low CPU usage, an easy way to type in IPs to block + ability to set rules, and preferably a GUI ... but not a must

That WIPFW sounds interesting ... gonna check it out.

Found out that there's plenty of ways to block IPs too in XP without installing anything extra ;

http://www.mywebhostingblog.net/aspnet- … n-windows/

editing Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts :

http://www.wikihow.com/Block-a-Website- … b-Browsers

and a GUI for the above method :

http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman

tuia · 2012-11-20 00:03:41

Like nämeless wrote it, Windows has the "netsh" command. It's netsh advfirewall. you can find documentation for it.

nämeless · 2012-11-20 07:48:11

tuia wrote:

Like nämeless wrote it, Windows has the "netsh" command. It's netsh advfirewall. you can find documentation for it.

As far as I know, XP/2003 uses "netsh firewall" context instead of the "netsh advfirewall firewall" to control Windows firewall from console. You need Vista/2008 or higher to use "netsh advfirewall". So, I was wrong then and "netsh" command is useless to block external IPs, ranges and subnets in XP.

Last edited by nämeless (2012-11-20 08:32:58)

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-11-23 00:55:08

Is it possible to copy rules directly from IPTables.rules (Linux) and into WIPFW ?

Will the rules function properly, and in the same way as in IPTables ?

tuia · 2012-11-23 01:25:19

No, the syntax is different. You can easily transfer the rules to WIPFW, if you read its documentation.

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-11-23 01:56:29

Yes, just googled my question and found the same answer, thanks for the reply, though.

I just hate all that coding stuff, and I try to avoid it at all costs - and yes, that's my problem

How about PktFilter, can it use IPTables rules ? (googled this too, couldn't find a clear answer)

You say PktFilter isn't as powerful as IPTables. Feel free to elaborate

tuia · 2012-11-23 01:58:13

PktFilter uses a different syntax than Iptables, too, so you can't directly import the rules. PktFilter doesn't have the recent module capabilty, which Iptables has, and much more module features. PktFilter and WIPFW will do the job for something as simple as blocking some IP addresses, if that's what you're looking for.

nämeless · 2012-12-01 02:51:50

Why don't you try to make something like this one:

1. Linux as a host system.
2. Virtual machine.
3. Windows XP (or Windows Server 2003) as a guest system.

Hence, you can run Battlefield 1942 server in Windows and block IPs, subnets and ranges via iptables in Linux.

I have no Linux installed on my home PC but for example I just blocked Google DNS. It works.

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-12-01 03:36:53

Wouldn't that affect performance a lot? To my knowledge, a "pure" OS is generally much better than virtualization - regarding servers. I might be wrong. If I am, then it's worth considering.

I think i'd prefer just to run pure Linux then, if I have to pick a non-win OS

But thanks for the idea nameless.

bud · 2012-12-01 03:39:40

nämeless is right, you could just swap xp for win7. The inbuilt windows 7 firewall should have enough features for your needs, bf servers runs fine on win7 to so it may be the easiest way to go.

you could also consider running a linux live-cd combined with a usb memory for setting etc.

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-12-01 03:55:34

I ran the server on Win 7 to begin with 14 days ago, but for some mysterious reason the server was quite laggy to play at.

I switched to XP, still on the same PC, and the lag got greatly reduced, I don't know why. I may return to Win 7 soon to check out if the lag is still there.

nämeless · 2012-12-01 12:43:13

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X wrote:

Wouldn't that affect performance a lot? To my knowledge, a "pure" OS is generally much better than virtualization - regarding servers. I might be wrong. If I am, then it's worth considering.

I have some experience of using the virtualization (Hyper-V, VirtualBox etc) at work. For example, Windows Server 2003 R2 with terminal server role works fine in VirtualBox where the host system is Windows Server 2008 R2 or Ubuntu Server 12.04.
I recommend you to use VirtualBox because it's free by GPL, cross-platform and almost without loss of performance or functionality. You can select the amount of RAM to be allocated to the virtual machine, file type of virtual hard drive (I recommend you to use fixed VHD because it's compatible with the other virtualization software and often faster to use than dynamically allocated virtual hard drive), size of virtual hard drive, execution cap of processor etc.
If it's stable, just use your Windows XP as a guest system and something with advanced firewall as a host system.

bud wrote:

nämeless is right, you could just swap xp for win7. The inbuilt windows 7 firewall should have enough features for your needs, bf servers runs fine on win7 to so it may be the easiest way to go.
you could also consider running a linux live-cd combined with a usb memory for setting etc.

It's Windows 8 on screenshot.

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X wrote:

I ran the server on Win 7 to begin with 14 days ago, but for some mysterious reason the server was quite laggy to play at.
I switched to XP, still on the same PC, and the lag got greatly reduced, I don't know why. I may return to Win 7 soon to check out if the lag is still there.

The server and client are unstable sometimes in Windows 7 x64. Try x86 but it has one minus - the limitation of Microsoft Windows 32-bit that prevents the operating system from using more than 4 Gb of RAM.

Last edited by nämeless (2012-12-01 13:49:21)

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-12-01 18:22:48

You may be on to something. I used Win 7 x64, will try x86 very soon. The 4 GB limit won't be a problem. x64 was very stable, but quite laggy, maybe x86 will improve this. Thanks for the tip nameless.

bud · 2012-12-02 04:30:38

Windows xp works fine in kvm, if you go that way just be sure to use the virtua drivers when you install xp or you will get a performance loss on IO operations and network.

http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers

X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X · 2012-12-15 07:59:45

Finally picked a firewall mechanism - Can now block IPs on the server - Haven't been able to up to this point.

Chose this :

http://www.iishacks.com/2009/11/10/bloc … rver-2003/

it's built into Win XP and Server 2003 and uses virtually no extra resources.

Once set up, takes less than 20 secs to add new IPs and ranges.

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#1 2012-11-18 00:59:20

Software firewall for Windows ?

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#3 2012-11-18 02:09:46

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#4 2012-11-18 02:46:19

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#5 2012-11-18 13:31:36

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#6 2012-11-18 16:49:31

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#8 2012-11-19 16:06:33

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#10 2012-11-20 00:03:41

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#11 2012-11-20 07:48:11

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#12 2012-11-23 00:55:08

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#13 2012-11-23 01:25:19

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#14 2012-11-23 01:56:29

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#15 2012-11-23 01:58:13

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#16 2012-12-01 02:51:50

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#17 2012-12-01 03:36:53

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#18 2012-12-01 03:39:40

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#19 2012-12-01 03:55:34

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#20 2012-12-01 12:43:13

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