[ale] Open Source Firewall for Windows 2000/XP?

[Byron A Jeff]

Tap, Tap. Is this thing on?

The company Windows 2000 laptop got infected with Sasser yesterday. I only
use it for presenting PP slides, and often it isn't up long enough for
Windows update to load to reboot. I guess I'll have to have a policy where I
boot the machine specifically for the update.

So it got me to thinking about more proactive anti-infection measures of the
worm variety. I don't read E-mail or browse with the machine, so network worm
infection is the primary vehicle of infection. I don't offer any services,
so I really don't need any open ports. So a simple firewall that blocks
all incoming ports would thwart most damaging code.

On of my newer missions to look for Open Source alternatives to existing
Windows software. Software like OpenOffice.org, Mozilla/Firebird/Thunderbird,
Apache, Python, PHP, and the like can help ease the transistion/dependence on
Windows.

But one needs a personal firewall when plugging into unprotected networks. And
in keeping with the OS theme, it should be OS.

So any ideas? I saw a student project of a packet filtering firewall here:

http://www.codeproject.com/internet/smfirewall.asp

But I was wondering if anyone knew of something better.

BAJ