Overzealous firewall

September 17, 2006 4:28 PM

Why is the firewall in Panda Antivirus blocking my internet connection?

I recently installed SP2 (better late than never) and ever since then I haven't been able to get onto the internet when I have the firewall in Panda Antivirus (2006 edition) enabled. Yes, I made sure that I didn't have Windows firewall running at the same time as the Panda firewall.
The rest of the antivirus software is still working, and my subscription won't expire until March.
Does anyone know how to fix this (or have a suggestion for a free firewall)?

posted by martinX's bellbottoms to computers & internet (5 comments total)

if you're a normal home user, the windows firewall should be enough. and if you have a NAT router, you really don't need any firewall.
posted by donth at 8:09 PM on September 17, 2006

Check to make sure the Windows firewall isn't running, there were a lot of issues when SP2 came out where it would automagically enable the built in firewall and cause conflicts with existing security software.

Software firewalls are notoriously unreliable. They will break. At some point, you may want to consider switching to the one built into Windows. It's still not perfect, but it's better than most third party ones that you will encounter.

The best recommendation I can give you is to buy a router. A hardware firewall is just better in every way. It's more secure and far less prone to random breaking.

If you do decide to disable the Panda firewall, make sure you disable just the firewall. The anti-virus stuff is useful.
posted by quin at 8:13 PM on September 17, 2006

Ack, I didn't read your MI closely enough apparently, sorry.

If you are certain that the Windows firewall is disabled, you may need to reinstall Panda. As I said, software firewalls are finicky and will break if you look at them crossly. Installing SP2 may have seemed like an attack to Panda and it may have gone into full on lock-down mode. Reinstalling should clear that.
posted by quin at 8:18 PM on September 17, 2006

I would consider reinstalling Panda. Many AV companies worked pretty hard to get their apps to integrate closely with the "Security Center" in sp2, and it may have confused the firewall portion of Panda.

Personally, I would go with a router too, but that's just me :)
posted by antifuse at 1:18 AM on September 18, 2006

Just use the antivirus part. The windows firewall is all you need, but make sure you're using some sort of antivirus. McAfee and Norton are the two market leaders, so I'd recommend them when your Panda sub runs out.

I'm assuming you've already called Panda's tech support. If you're paying them, they either need to fix it or give you a pro-rated refund, then you can switch to something that actually does work.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 7:24 AM on September 18, 2006