Ubuntu firewalls

I use Firestarter to manage my firewall on Ubuntu. It is easily installed from Ubuntu's "Add/Remove Applications" window. Launch Firestarter from the menu and the wizard is triggered when starting the program for the first time.

Follow the instructions in the wizard and Firestarter will be started soon after. Start adding rules to permit inbound and outbound traffic. Firestarter allows advanced configurations to restrict ICMP types and drop unwanted packets.

After reading rave reviews about ufw (Uncomplicated firewall), I decided to evaluate it. Installed ufw and gufw using the "apt-get" command. Launched gufw from the menu. ufw is disabled by default. Enabled the firewall from the GUI and started adding rules to permit traffic.

My verdict? I'm not sure what all the buzz is about. Firestarter is easier to set up, intuitive to use and has more powerful features.