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McAfee has been producing exceptional firewalls for some time. The previous version was an excellent application. What gave McAfee a real leg up on the competition was the inclusion of their solid firewall with their equally well conceived VirusScan application. With Firewall Plus 2004 version 5.0, you must purchase the firewall separately. Unfortunately, McAfee has opted to leave the firewall completely out of their latest anti virus application. On the plus side, for those not seeking an anti virus, but a firewall, this is one very good application to consider.
Right now the big stand outs in firewalls are Zone Alarm Pro and McAfee. While there are many applications on the market, the ones with the real reputations and have been consistently singled out as stand out performers in firewall protection, the race is really down to Zone Alarm and McAfee. In this race it appears to me that McAfee may have a slight lead on others in this arena.
The advantages start with the footprint. Measuring a slim 8 MB, McAfee has done an admirable job of keeping bloat down. Where 20 and 30 MB applications are the norm, and not the exception, this is always welcome news when an application can stay lean. For those using older operating systems, Firewall Plus is able to run on Windows 98. While 95 users have to skip this release, everyone else may want to really consider this application who has not yet upgraded to Microsoft’s latest and greatest OS.
With an application of this size, you can either download it, or purchase the boxed version. Naturally for broadband connections, 8 MB is nothing to worry about. If you are worried that the box version contains essentials, it does contain a 40 page book that outlines the features. For newbies, I can see the advantage of having a hard copy. The good news is that McAfee does a respectable job of making information available on line.
For those who are new to firewalls and maybe wondering why even bother, if you spend any time online at all, a firewall is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Be it high speed or dial up, firewalls are as important to computer online safety as anti virus protection. Although Windows XP ships with a firewall, it is at best rudimentary. If you really want to know what is going in with your online connection, you will need a dedicated firewall.
For those new to all of this McAfee makes the set up and installation as easy as possible. There is little to intimidate the new user here. Just pop in the disk, follow the set up directions and you are protected. As stated by McAfee, this is a firewall designed to run with little, if any, interference from the end–user. In fact, you can keep the Windows XP firewall turned on, but I strongly suggest turning it off if you are using a third party firewall. The interference is not worth bothering with, and I frankly do not feel the Windows XP firewall is worth having.
Now the big new features are just that. The first that may get your attention is enhanced integration with HackerWatch.org for improved event reporting. Having access to this database and being able to report events to it makes solid sense. That integration has been improved.
When an application attempts to go online, Personal Firewall Plus checks to see if it recognizes the program as a trusted one. If it is recognized, the application is allowed to access the World Wide Web. In this new rendition, more information is available instantly via a nicely designed easy to read pop up window that gives you the actual name of the application accessing the World Wide Web.
In conjunction with greater application awareness, there is now advanced trojan detection. This is also reflected in more detailed traffic analysis than in previous versions. Features that were good before have now been given greater refinement.
One of the biggest advantages that McAfee had was the great visual tracing. Using online resources, the application can search the Web offering an easy to read map of where attacks are originating. This feature was available before, but this time around there is more information and greater ease in accessing it while on the World Wide Web.
McAfee in the past used a rather awkward interface in many of their applications that gave them a kind of curious look. This time around, McAfee has got their interface act together. The integration of Personal Firewall Plus with other applications and their online counterparts means not only a cleaner look, but a better integration among the various parts that make up McAfee’s set of utilities. When it comes to settings, finding stats and simply working with the program, McAfee has made some major much needed reworkings. Now the interface works not only aesthetically, but in practical terms as well.
If ease of use, setup and operation are key features for you, then McAfee has the most elegant firewall solution of them all. Combining resources with features, there is a great deal to like about this powerful well conceived application. If you don’t like to bother with the details of a powerful firewall, but want solid protection uncompromising protection, this is a surefire winner on many levels.
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