I see alot of people asking whats the best firewall for my system. Truth is there is no best. It all depends on your system and your needs.
Some people know about these sites some do not. Ive compiled a list of some of the best, unbiased research in the way of antivirus and antimalware software.
Matousec
This site tests firewalls. It does alot more than just your regular TCP and UDP connections. It also tests a firewall in its HIPs protection.
They have since renamed their research to the Proactive Security Challenge. Here is a link to the results:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/proactive-security-challenge/results.php
This is the set of tools that they use for testing. If your security setup isnt on the test feel free to get a rating yourself.
http://www.matousec.com/projects/security-software-testing-suite/
Virus Bulletin
This site basically tests antivirus softwares and either gives them a VB100 award or fails the software. It compiles recent results so you can see the timeline of a software based on if it passed or not. To see the results of the latest AV comparatives you need to register for a free account. This site also malware and other security related articles as well.
ICSA Labs
This site basically runs some tests and certifies or denies security programs. It rates antispam, antispyware, IPSEC, antivirus, and various other networking softwares. All it really tells you is if a software has become certified, the operating system used for certification, and what level of certification it received.
Unfortunately nothing comes close to the AV Comparatives site in the way of Anti-Malware program testings and this is as close as it gets.
AV Comparatives
This is probably the most significant resource here. While we all are worried to some extent about what the firewall lets in and out, we are all more concerned about our AVs detection rate and weather or not its deleting something that we need.
On this site you will find independent comparatives of Anti-Virus software. All products listed in our comparatives are already a selection of some very good anti-virus products.
Basically this site takes a huge collection of malware, keyloggers, trojans, and rootkits and tests each of the AV softwares in detection rates and the amount of false positives they identify. They also do performance testing on AVs to figure out scan speed and various other things.
http://www.av-comparatives.org/
I hope this helps when you are looking for a new firewall or AV to use.
