In the past I have tried out several personal firewalls: Sygate, Outpost, Kerio, ZoneAlarm, McAfee, and now Comodo PF.
With all these firwalls I had the same trouble: Switching to WinXP standby mode didn’t work correctly:
Monitor and hard disk are turned off as expected, but the processor fan continues to run, and when I press the on/off button of my Dell notebook (Latitude C840) to terminate the standby mode, then there is no reaction. I have to completely turn off the computer and to reboot again.
This doesn’t occur every time, but very often, and now also with CPF, even in “Allow all” mode, so I’m afraid I have to resort again to the Windows firewall, though it isn’t able to block undesired outbound traffic.
Standby can interfer with alot of software and drivers. Its the standby at fault - the way in which it saves memory and often corrupts it when resuming. Best not to use it anyway.
FYI, the firewall built into Windows is currently only monitoring inbound traffic, not outbound. As such, any infection that gets can quite happily send whatever info it wants back out. The Windows firewall is quitegood at inbound, but it really is only half the job.
Caveat Emptor!!!
Hope this helps,
Ewen
P.S. Every laptop I’ve tried in standby mode works with the Window firewall, but has problems about 80% of the time with other firewalls. Tested on Dell, Toshiba, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Medion, Clevo - results were consistent, regardless of the brand. I believe the problem lies in the hardware-standby interaction, rather than in the firewall software.
Right today I have received an invitation to participate in the Beta test program for Microsoft’s “Windows Live OneCare” package, which comprises also a firewall. This firewall can also suppress outbound traffic, and I’ve convinced myself that it is compatible with standby mode.
The final version will certainly not be free, however. So we’ll have to pay or wait for Windows Vista whose improved firewall will also be able to block outbound traffic, as I’ve heard.
The OneCare firewall checks applications and particularly recognizes if an application has been replaced by a new version.
I couldn’t find details about leaktests, but I have downloaded and tried out the well-known leaktest program http://grc.com/files/LeakTest.exe: It didn’t reveal leaks.
You can dowload a 90 days free trial version of OneCare at http://www.windowsonecare.com/. But Attn: It will also deinstall and replace your existing anti-virus program (with your allowance).
In the meantime it has turned out that the OneCare firewall isn’t compatible with WindowsCP standby mode, either. After several cases where standby worked correctly I have now again experienced a case where it didn’t work. So I have deinstalled OneCare and remorsefully reactivated the Windows firewall. What a pity!
Hi Klaus, I just wanted to throw a mention out there at you. This standby issue is as known issue with many users. While I am not sure if this has happened, when some come out of standby, they can no longer access the internet as the nic card seems to stay locked, or as in your case it won’t come out at all. Sometimes only unplugging the net cable then plugging back in works, but with wireless the only way was a reboot. The fans should stay running in standby as the processor is still going and would probably overheat. While some new pentiums don’t worry as much about this, it can still happen. On Cnet, I had to help many with this issue and sadly I have been to lazy to look and see if MS finally has a fix for this standby issue or not, lol. I don’t think it’s the firewall in general as some have even uninstalled their firewall to test this very same problem and it ends up it is the standby. They uninstalled and the PC\Laptop would still get stuck, not come out of standby, or lock up the nic connection typically resolved by ipconfig /release | renew. At least that was my fix for them, lol. So whether you find this your issue or not, I hope this may help a bit in the Standby area.
If it isn’t the firewall in general then I wonder why the troubles occurred with all firewalls that I have tested so far except with the built-in Windows XP firewall?
Hi, as I don’t have this answer it must be something in common with a firewall and standby mode, but many have problems with standby anyway, w\wo firewalls. I was just trying to give you some information on the standby issue so maybe you could find and pinpoint something as well with firewalls\stanby.
I know that not only firewalls may cause troubles with standby. I have experienced that also many screensavers cause the same troubles. Therefore I don’t use screensavers but just have the monitor put into standby mode after a few minutes through the Windows energy options.
In the meantime I have found out that I don’t run into troubles (at least most times) with standby if I switch CPF into “Allow all” mode before entering standby state. The little red security warning icon in the system tray reminds me to switch back to “Custom” mode afterwards.
It would be much better, of course, if CPF could do that switching forth and back automatically, for instance by offering a “Go to standby” menu item on its system tray icon, and by properly reacting to a return from standby state.
