Re: Which free firewall uses least memory?

Chief Suspect wrote:
>
> I just don't like AOL for any reason! It has proven to me over and over
> to be insidious, and weaves a web of entanglement all through your
> registry. AOL in itself is a power hungry resources eater.
>
> Suggestion: Visit www.majorgeeks.com, and take a look at the
> recommendations there for various programs, including firewalls. They
> have a rating system 1-5, with 5 being the absolute best. The most
> popularly used firewalls by freeware junkies like me seem to be Kerio,
> ZoneAlarm, Sygate. But, all of these still do not quite meet the
> standard of a FULL FIVE (5) rating of the freebie Primedius Firewall
> Lite. I used to employ Sygate until I found Primedius. Good Luck

Tell me more about Primedius. I've never heard of it.

Problem:
My system is a 720 mhz running Windows ME. Memory is maxed out at 540 gigs.

I'm using Sygate (free), and have used two versions of it for a few
years. I've always found it powerful and exceptionally informative.
However, at least with the free version, I'm having a problem with all
the time slices that it's taking from my processor.

I've also been running Avast antivirus. I've dropped one Avast "service"
after another. Some services I don't need; others are questionable as to
their true protection for my situation. But Avast, too, uses lots of
processor slices, even with only the Standard Shield running. When I run
Filemon, I can see what appear to be dozens of the processes from these
two programs alternating with each other in groups sliding up the screen
at a furious pace. These processes appear to be running almost constantly.

Surprisingly, in many cases, software runs with acceptable speed on my
system. I notice some drag when using two applications that run in Java,
since they're running in an operating system sitting on top of the
Windows OS. But where these security routines get in my face is when I'm
downloading MP3 radio programs off the web. Then, there are occasional
annoying skips (momentary cutouts) -- I've traced this problem to these
security programs running in the "background."

I know of no way to slow them down.
I'd like some advice about how to either slow down these programs, or
find less-vigilent alternatives.

Anyone have ideas?

Thanks!

Richard
Received on Thu Sep 29 19:59:48 2005