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Follow UsThe Norton Personal Firewall (NPF) 20001 2.5 monitors all
traffic flowing between the Net and your system, and informs you if anything
tries to sneak through without your knowledge. It comes on a CD and can be
installed on Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000. It took us less than five minutes to
install the software on our Celeron machine, and after a single reboot it was
ready to run. During installation, you can let NPF create rules automatically or
specify them manually. These rules decide what data your computer can receive
and block. For example, you can have a rule that permits your browser to connect
to the Internet, and another that blocks Internet access for ICQ. If you let NPF
define them, it’ll automatically configure rules for recognized applications
(like games and browsers) which use the Web. It’ll also create some rules
which block entry to commonly-used trojans. You can, of course, modify, add, or
delete any of these rules later to suit your needs.
|
Norton Personal Firewall 2001 2.5 |
| Firewall. Rs 1,990 Features: Rule-based blocking; blocks common trojans; prevents personal information from leaking out. Pros: Easy to use. Cons: None. Source: Symantec Hermes Business Center 13 B, Bhaktawar Towers 229, Nariman Point Mumbai 400012. Tel: 22-2828613 /14 E-mail: vpai@symantec.com Website: www.symantec.com |
Once installed, the firewall runs in the background and you
can access it from an icon in your system tray.
NPF’s interface is pretty simple. A status section gives a
summary of events like the number of cookies blocked and the number of accesses
which have been denied or allowed. There’s a security section, where you have
to choose between minimal, medium, and high levels of security. These levels
differ in the extent to which they monitor and block events. For example,
high-level security will block all Internet usage for specific applications
until specified by the user. You can also set your own security level.
You can also define your own privacy level. The highest level
blocks all cookies and doesn’t allow any of your private information to get
through to the Web. This includes things like your credit-card number and your
address. NPF will monitor the flow of this information from your system and warn
you.
NPF, like most Norton products, has a LiveUpdate option that
automatically connects to the Internet and downloads the latest updates for the
software.
It’s a good firewall solution that can be used by anyone
sensitive about being ‘watched’ on the Internet.
Sachin Makhija at PCQ Labs