Just a thumbs up for the TINY Firewall package. Version 2.0 is free and very functional.
A very small footprint, both in code and resources. It is a little short on fancy reporting - graphs and such - just a logfile, but it is very effective. Every test I have run against it shows my computer to not even be logged in. Stealth in every way - and I know all the numbers for my own machine. Impressive.
Anyway, if you are looking for a change or even a start with a firewall - take a look at TINY. It is the standard package for the USAF computers and many other large organisations - so it can't be bad.
There is a pay version (3.0) - but as far as I can see the protection is the same, but the administration / reporting is better. I for one don't see the point of that - I just need to know that all those nasty "requests" are blocked.
The URL :
TINY SOFTWARE - Firewall
MG