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To most users, the prospect of installing and maintaining firewall software is daunting. Targeted specifically at the inexperienced and cautious user, Preventon Personal Firewall is a set-and-forget package and aims to be as transparent as possible.
It's the perfect solution for simple firewall tasks, but configurability and manageability have been compromised to achieve the program's ease of use.
Configuration of the firewall takes place at installation. By default, the software blocks all traffic in and out of your system. It's up to you to choose which applications, tasks or users will be allowed access.
A pop-up window allows you to enable web access, email, newsgroups and file/print sharing. For the inexperienced, selecting these will be the only configuration needed, which is quite different from most other firewall packages.
More advanced users do have other options to choose from, but there's a distinct limit to what can be chosen.
The main interface is kept simple and the basic display consists of a dynamic log of activity through the firewall. Any connection attempts, scans or other suspicious activity is updated in real time so that you can quickly see any problems.
This log can also be saved to disk. Double-clicking on any of the listed activity attempts will open a new window with more detailed information, showing exactly which protocol and port number is being used. Highly suspicious activity invokes a pop-up warning window.
In our tests, all connection attempts that hadn't been previously authorised were blocked. Ping (ICMP) attempts from another system were met with a time out.
The manufacturer claims that no periodic updates for the software will be available, as they aren't needed. For the experienced user, this could be a problem.
If a hacker develops a way of accessing a system that's totally new, it's possible that the software would allow traffic through without even knowing.
To get your system up and running with a firewall straight out of the box, they don't come any easier than this. But for advanced users, it may not hold enough options and configurability to warrant purchase.
Price: £19.99 (ex. VAT)
Minimum requirements: Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP; Pentium II 233MHz, 32Mb of Ram; 10Mb free hard disk space.
Contact: Preventon
www.preventon.com
See also:
Keep your PC safe from malicious hackers and damaging Trojan horses 09 Aug 2002
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