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https://superuser.com/questions/400724/a-small-open-source-firewall-for-windows-xp#comment455486_400724

May be someone is shooting too fast? (not every short question lacks a point, I mean)

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  • My intention was not by any means about shopping, also. All I wanted is a supported open-source simple (like GhostWall) WinXP firewall. Period :)
    – mlvljr
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 19:44
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    I know that. Before being closed, a question can be flagged by a user (such as myself) citing a specific reason out of those provided. NARQ is one, and off-topic (my choice) is another. Asking for software recommendations is similar to a "shopping list" question. Even if it's FOSS.
    – Ben Richards
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 19:46
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    This is a greater problem though. Recommendations for the BEST? and Since when are software recommendations off-topic?
    – slhck
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 19:54
  • @slhck Thanks. But, what (in the light of those discussions) makes the question illegal, again? It is specific (not too broad) enough to be hard to answer immediately (that's why I asked it), yet (as it turns out) there're answers; if it is all about not providing a behind-the-question-war-story, it may may or not be good for the question's "future", but it obviuosly cannot make it illegal (in any way).
    – mlvljr
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 21:16
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    Yeah, it's not that evident. There's not a clearly written rule for these types of things. However, what we don't want to encourage is just compiling a list of answers. You can probably do that yourself given enough research. Make your question state an actual problem that we can try to solve. Just add a little context, that's all. It's hard to explain this all at once, I'm sorry.
    – slhck
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 21:19

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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I.e., as slim(*) as GhostWall, but w/source code and supported.

-- providing simple port/protocol/direction alllow/disallow rules

Anyone?

What exactly is your problem here? You haven't really stated much and it's fairly vague. It would poll a lot of different opinions and doesn't provide a definitive answer.

You need to be more definite on what you want, and what exactly your problem is. Windows includes what I call a "small firewall" that already does this. A little research and telling us what you have/haven't tried would help.

Just asking for a list of software that will work is off-topic here, as it's basically a shopping question.

If you edit the question, we could vote to reopen it.

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    Tell us why you need it in the first place, why Windows Firewall is insufficient, and what you've already found @mlvljr
    – slhck
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 19:48
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    @slhck Why should I, if I already know that for myself, and have figured a specific list of properties for one, that would suffice?
    – mlvljr
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 19:52
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    I'm just telling you based on experience here — you may or may not follow that suggestion, but it helps to have as much context as possible in a question. @miv
    – slhck
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 19:53
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    @mlvljr Like he said, it is a suggestion. However, it's generally encouraged to show in your questions that you've done some legwork already. It also helps avoid the influx of responses saying "why not just do ____?" if you already ruled it out. It clarifies your needs and helps you get a relevant answer more quickly.
    – Ben Richards
    Commented Mar 14, 2012 at 20:09
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    @Mlvjr, how are we supposed to know what you know? How do we know that suggesting to use the built in firewall doesn't work or that you already tried alternative X and that it used too many resources. Your question tells us nothing, so we can't give you anything either. Take it or leave it
    – Ivo Flipse Mod
    Commented Mar 15, 2012 at 8:30
  • @Ivo You missed the second "l" in my nick, so I missed your reply :) Again, my question -- while not telling much on its behind-the-scenes -- states the requirements clearly, which is enough to answer it (even in the absence of my rationale). In other words, this is not the case when the "specs" are given implicitly within the "here's my problem and what i tried" story. They are given explicitly (in a form "I need X having properties Y, Z"), and are precise and narrow enough for the question to be correctly understood and get a non-opinionated answer.
    – mlvljr
    Commented Mar 20, 2012 at 16:21
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    They may well be @mlvljr, but in that case they are of no use other than you, which makes it a very localized recommendation and generally not something we're looking for. Your question is not here to just help you, but hopefully everybody else who has the same problem
    – Ivo Flipse Mod
    Commented Mar 20, 2012 at 16:45
  • @Ivo Yup, I've already come to this, thanks to this discussion ;)
    – mlvljr
    Commented Mar 20, 2012 at 17:00

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