sphinx paid vs free

[byte_king]

Hello everyone,

Recently I've been thinking about firewalls and I downloaded some third-party firewalls (free) and didnt like any of them for various reasons (dubious about protection offered, slowed down things dramatically, messed up my computer, and in one case a firewall invalidated my copy of windows and just plain destroyed how the OS worked so I had tyo do a clean install).

On this forum, a couple o users suggested to me Sphinx (here is the url: http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/). I think I will install it, but I wanted to hear from users who have used this software.

1. Is it any good? Anybody had problems with it?

2. Does it offer great protection in a user-friendly format?

3. For someone who only uses his computer for basic tasks: word processor, web browsing, downloading , streaming, etc. Should I opt for the paid version, or is the free version sufficient?

Thanks everyone

[exile360]

1. I like it, it's simple to use and efficient. Unlike most third party firewalls, it actually uses the built in Vista/7 firewall, but enables outbound blocking and hardens security on system files as well as adding notification/prompting for programs to access the internet (the Vista and 7 firewalls do not, which is why they're not very useful with outbound blocking enabled because they block everything unless you create rules for every app you want to have access).
   
2. Using it is incredibly simple, with clear notifications when programs wish to access the web.
   
3. I used the free version for a long time and it was great, the paid version does offer a few additional features that are nice though, such as setting separate security zones for different applications (allows restricting certain types of access etc), but for the most part, if you just want something basic, all you need is the free one
   

[byte_king]

@Exile360,

Thanks. I've decided to go with sphnix and installed it earlier. I am going to stick with the free version and so far everything seems to be working great.

Thanks for all your advice in the past. You'vve really helped me tame this beast of a computer and make it usable and I really appreciate it. I've learnt allot these past few months about internet security and I'm still learning and much of that has been rom your advice in the past.

By the way, I keep getting this pop up near the notification area from sphinx saying "trial notification. Activation required". Will that go away?

[exile360]

You're quite welcome, I'm glad I've been able to help

If you downloaded the installer for the trial of the full version, that will not go away. If you want the free version you'll need to uninstall the one you've got and then download the version at the bottom of the Free column on the left side of this page (be sure to get the 32 bit version if your OS is 32 bit and get the 64 bit version if your OS is 64 bit).