What's the best firewall priced between $1-$200?

mecafee

My personal favorite is Zonelabs ZoneAlarm Pro.. but just get the firewall pro.. they have different versions that come with antivirus and antispyware programs... but just the Firewall is all you really want from them

Are you talking about a software firewall, or a hardware firewall? If you're talking about software, my vote goes to IBM/ISS BlackICE and Sunbelt Personal Firewall. These two have inline Network Intrusion Prevention, to block known drive-by exploits on the Internet. With one of these installed on a PC, the only real uses for your antivirus would be to scan downloaded files before you open them, and to scan your e-mail if you use a POP3 desktop client like Outlook. You should still keep one for good measure, in case a new vulnerability is exploited before security vendors find out about it and release an update; as well as antispyware to clean out non-destructive parasites as they slowly accumulate (IPS doesn't usually block ordinary spyware). BlackICE costs $40 per year, Sunbelt Personal Firewall costs $20 per year. You may have heard more about ZoneAlarm Pro and the freeware Comodo, whose claims to fame are their outbound protection. If you are a download junkie, and install something on your machine that turns out to be hiding a Trojan, one of these firewalls can help alert you to it. However, alerts to real attacks are almost never distinguishable from permissions requests for benign programs, and hardly useful to the average user. Novatix Cyberhawk is a dedicated IDS, which is offered in a free version, and whose alerts are in English rather than jargon. Plus, ZoneAlarm and Comodo are mostly reactive, as opposed to the two products I recommend, which are more proactive. Rather than scanning network packets for malicious protocols (TDI and NDIS layers), ZoneAlarm and Comodo work mostly at the application layer, attempting to detect and block threats AFTER they get in. If you want a freebie, I recommend either the free version of Sunbelt Personal Firewall, or McAfee Personal Firewall Express. The free McAfee firewall comes bundled into the free, all-in-one suite AOL Safety and Security Center: http://daol.aol.com/safetycenter If you're looking for a firewall appliance, I'd say it depends on what kind of network you're trying to secure, and what kinds of network activity go on there. If it's protection against high-magnitude attacks that you want, you might look into an IPS appliance like IBM Proventia (don't ask me the price). If you just want an SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) firewall appliance that blocks your basic port probes and self-propagating worms, you might look at Cisco or Linksys (a subsidiary of Cisco).