do you have good firewall to recomend?

Been using Win firewall, but is it settings or I'm too thick to learn it, it just doesn't seem working.
It's set up to notify me if it blocks any program not on allowed list, I installed many new programs, which look for updates, they should be blocked, I should be notified, never ever happened. I tried to look at the logs, Win can't find any logs WTF. And IMO it's all backwards: I shouldn't be blocking programs from accessing internet, everything should be blocked and I should be allowing access, including MS system files.
Any recommendations?
Prefer something simple but effective, since I have short attention span. TIA

 

what antivirus are you using?

do you want free or paid firewall?
i pay for avast and you get firewall included in the package and that is like most paid av packages.

 

Thank you for suggestions.
I have multiple computers, with different setups, so probably would prefer firewall independent from AV, especially that some AV take over the computer and could cause more headache than virus, but I will check it out. My idea is to lockdown the computer with firewall first, virus scan any downloads (programs/files) manually and pretty much have AV dormant, except for maybe once a week full scan, on my terms. I may also switch to Linux for internet browsing. But IMO I know what I'm doing to stay out of harms way, it's the background traffic behind my back that scares me and that's where good firewall comes into play. I'm still trying to figure this out so any ideas are welcome.

 

ZoneAlarm Free 2016 v14.1.048.000

http://www.v3.co.uk/articles/download_thanks/1956312#thanks

Just came across this firewall, I have not tried it myself.

John.

 

Thanks John, been using it for few days. I like the way it works: It will grant internet access to known programs automatically, but you can go to logs and manually change to ask or block later. If new program is installed it usually will generate "ask" response on first internet access. The downside is I have to figure myself which MS services are required for internet access and which are just telemetry, since all telemetry tools are geared for build in firewall which needs to be off when using zone alarm. I also don't have tools yet, to test which ports are left open and if I'm visible to others (don't want to be). Will take few weeks to figure all this out, but I think the most important part is most people use MS firewall, a very well known factor, Zone Alarm could be obscure enough to be obstacle, just by being different.

 

I use to use the free Comodo firewall years ago, but it use to p me off with all the alerts/popups

https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall.php

John

 

Yes. I agree popups are pain sometimes, but been using MS firewall for years now on multiple computers and I have no idea if it has popups or how they even look like, since never ever seen one. I've been installing many programs, including some betas and I feel MS firewall should have asked me if it's ok to grand internet access to at least some of those programs. Instead everything goes through, like I never had firewall. Maybe it's the settings, but I had it set to block all programs not on allowed list and notify me when new program is blocked.
Maybe it's somewhere among 29000 security events my computer logged over the years, or somewhere else I would never think to look, but I don't get it and want something else.
Speaking of popups, don't you get annoyed answering "it's ok to run this program", no matter how many times you run this program today?
Personally, I think most viruses are completely harmless, even running on your computer, until they access the internet and either send out the data or receive instructions and therefore I feel good firewall is more important than virus scanner and even completely new virus, not detectable yet by virus scan, could be intercepted and stopped by firewall when trying to access internet. Of course this will not work on automated network or with casual computer users, but it's not the case here.