[Znod]

Hi Friends:

As most of you know, I am using TechNet Vista Ultimate. I have become frustrated trying to find a firewall that is Vista ready, will allow me to deal simply with outgoing, and does not come with a host of other things I don't want.

Some version of the Zone Labs firewall supposedly is next on the Company's list. I hope the stand alone comes out first.

But, to date, the only acceptable Vista-ready firewall that I have found that deals effectively (presumably) with outgong is in OneCare beta. Still, I am not going to buy OneCare for its firewall and don't want to use the beta--when good free ones eventually will be available. Also, you can't turn all the features, other than the firewall, off in OneCare. Actually, if one could turn all the other features off, then I'd probably buy OneCare just to end my firewall search.

In the absence of another alternative, I would like to learn how, if possible, to get the Windows Vista firewall (WVF) to do what I want. And, I don't have much of a clue how to proceed.

Specifically, I would like for WVF to alert me when any program tries to call home unless the program is a known program that has been designated as not being problematic. More specifically, for an unfamiliar, and, thus, possibly problematic program, I would want an alert from WVF. Under such a condition, I would like for WVF to allow me opt to allow the program to call home (a) never, (b) this time only, or (c) always. A program that I have opted to allow to call home always is one way a program could be "designated as not being problematic." But, also, if WVF has a list of programs, MS or otherwise, that are known to be non-problematic, then I would like to be able to opt to always allow the programs on the list to call home without an alert.

Is what I want from WVF possible? If so, then how in the world would a mere mortal like me proceed? I have never seen a home user use the outgoing features of WVF. Technet has some discussions that I don't understand very well. And, thus, I am not willing to proceed not knowing what I am doing.