| Product: |
Symantec Norton Personal Firewall 2000 |
| Date: |
04/05/01 (151 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: user friendly, easy to set up the rules, works well alongside ZoneAlarm
Disadvantages: none
I installed Norton Personal Firewall (NPF) on my computer after reading about how the bad guys are getting clever and found a way of shutting down popular firewalls such as ZoneAlarm (which I have installed on my PC), so therefore I decided it would be a good idea to have a back-up, just incase as my PC is connected to the Net quite a lot.
The firewall works in a very similar way to Atguard (which was sold to Norton), it has all the same features as Atguard, but with a better user interface.
As soon as a program tries to connect to the Internet, a warning will come up, and you have the option of allowing the programs to connect just this once, block it from connecting to the net or you can always let it connect by making a specific rule for the program.
A typical rule might be, let this program (such as Internet Explorer) to have complete access to the Net (any port and any address). Maybe you want the program (such as Real Player) to only connect to a certain radio station over the Net? So you would set up a specific port and a specific address (this option is useful as you hear how programs start dialling home and sending info about you, info such as what programs you listen to or watch).
Trojans are programs that can harm your PC and your privacy. Once a Trojan gets into your computer, then a person who could be anywhere in the world will have access to your computer, they can view/delete your files, see what you are doing, read your mails, get your passwords etc, basically they can have complete access to your computer and the services you might use.
However, NPF (Norton Personal Firewall) can stop all this, it will stop the person from the outside from accessing your computer. It will stop the Trojan from sending out any information from your computer. BUT be vigilant, if NPF pops up a warning that a program is trying to access the Net, and you don’t recognise the program then DON’T allow it to connect to
the Net..!!
Other features that come with NPF are privacy features, where you can block cookies, stop harmful web sites from accessing confidential details. It can also stop Active X controls from running on web sites. However, some web sites you might need these to be able to view the full affect of the web sites, fear not, as NPF comes with simple rules where you can allow certain web sites to have full control.
There is an auto live-update in which you can get any latest security patches, bug fixes etc.
Protect yourself on the Internet. Get a Firewall now. NPF is a great firewall..!!
PS “If you are worried about Trojans, then you can also get Anti-Trojan programs such as The Cleaner, which is available from http://www.moosoft.com”
Summary:
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Last comment:
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- 05/05/01 I think these programs are a waste of time & money, the threat of hackers etc is extremely remote, even for relatively big companies, let alone joe bloggs!
Bear in mind the following draw back with some of these programs (the Norton one being an example that I know of)... they deny access to ports (a hacker often uses a port scanner to attempt to find access to a PC, eg port 80 is normally used for the web) instead of just not responding. To a hacker, this gives the impression that your PC is a multinational companies server and thus begs further attention. Effectively, you are then attracting hackers which would otherwise probably have never bothered with your PC!
In all my time in the computer industry, both home and at many companies, I've never had an infiltration attempt via a hacker.
On the plus side, preventing applications from sending back data on the sly is worthwhile and the main benefit of packages like these.
Good op, TT. |
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