firewall posts

Filed under: Security, Symbian, Mobile Minute

Mobile Minute: ESET to release security app for Symbian smartphones

by Lee Mathews Aug 23rd 2009

ESET is one of the most respected antivirus providers around, and they're not new to the mobile world. They've been selling a WinMo product for some time.

Now, they're making a push for another segment of the smartphone ecosystem -- those running Symbian OS.

The new product will not only provide protection against malicious software targetting Symbian phones, but ESET also plans to include a remote wipe feature. For the $24.95 annual price tag it's likely to carry (or just north of $37 for two years), that's not a bad deal at all.

There will also be a built-in firewall for added protection. The SMS spam filter which ships with the Windows Mobile version will not, however, be included.

[via ComputerActive]

Tags: antivirus, cellular-phone, eset, firewall, nod32, remote-wipe, smartphone

Filed under: Internet, Security, Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Freeware, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

Wednesday giveaway: Comodo Internet Security Pro

by Lee Mathews Mar 11th 2009

I took Comodo's free Internet Security suite for a test drive when they released it last year, and was pleased with how it performed. The company has been a respected provider of firewall protection for years, so it was nice to see them develop a more complete desktop security solution. The free version is packed with great features, and is an excellent free antivirus/firewall/HIP product for Windows PCs.

Thanks to the good folks at Comodo, ten lucky commenters will get their hands on a product key for the Professional version.

Curious about what sets Pro apart from the free version? For starters, you'll be eligible for live 24-7, "remote hands-on" tech support. Our regular readers are all pretty tech savy and may not need this, but maybe there's a relative or two on your support list that might appreciate it? That way, you both get a prize - less phone calls for you, and CIS Pro for them!

You'll also get access to Comodo's TrustConnect service, which provides you a trusted VPN connection that's available everywhere - even on your iPhone or iPod Touch. It's a nice layer of protection to have available when you're stuck using untrusted wireless access on the road.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post before the clock strikes midnight EST on Sunday, March 15th. We'll announce the winners on Monday the 16th.

This contest is open to legal residents of the United States only. Foreign DS readers, fear not! We've got more giveaways coming up for other great apps that you'll be able to participate in!

Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
To enter leave a comment on this post.
The comment must be left before March 15, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
You may enter only once.
Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing.
Prize: Key code for one year of Comodo Internet Security Pro (US$39).
Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Tags: antivirus, comodo, contest, firewall, free, freebie, giveaway, internet-security, tech-support

Filed under: OS Updates, Security, Utilities, Windows, Beta, Windows x64

Kaspersky offers free preview of Antivirus for Windows 7

by Lee Mathews Feb 2nd 2009

If you're running Windows 7 beta, the team at Kaspersky wants you to take their latest offering for a test drive.

The new version features not only antivirus and anti-malware protection, but a number of other tools to protect your pc. Kaspersky has also bundled firewall, anti-spam, anti-spyware, and registry defense tools. There's even a banner blocker to help banish annoying advertisements from your browser.

As always, resource utilization is very low with Kaspersky - task manager reports about 38Mb of memory. Scanning is extremely fast and has been tweaked for multi-core processors. The new heuristics engine is also capable of launching unidentified but suspicious applications in "an isolated virtual environment" in order to safely analyze their behavior.

The technical preview is a free download, and beta activation keys are currently valid for 90 days.

Tags: antivirus, firewall, kaspersky, malware, spyware

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Commercial

Grab yourself a free 1-year license for McAfee 2009

by Lee Mathews Dec 11th 2008

A number of sites - including Life Rocks 2.0 - are reporting that McAfee is currently offering a free one year license for Virusscan Plus with firewall and anti-spyware protection.

The suite is normally priced at $39.99 for a single pc, but entering the promotional code ****** will apply the discount. Licenses for up to four additional PCs can be added for an extra $10 each. The site is also offering a three system, one year license of McAfee Internet Security 2009 for $34.99 (a $35 discount).

The latest release has gotten fairly good reviews and boasts increased speed as well as improved virus detection and removal. If you're a McAfee fan, this offer is too good to pass up.

~~The offer expires December 31, 2008.~~

Update: As indicated in the comments, the offer is only valid for specific people - not the general public. In the interest of saving you some grief, the code and links have been removed.

Tags: anti-virus, antivirus, firewall, spyware

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Commercial, Freeware

Download Zonealarm 2009 Pro for free on 11/18/2008

by Lee Mathews Nov 17th 2008

ZoneAlarm has been around for years, and is still one of the most popular Windows firewall programs around (about 1.6 million CNET downloads to date).

As reported on gHacks, Checkpoint will be giving away the 2009 Pro version tomorrow - complete with one year of updates. We're not sure about the exact URL for the promotion, but gHacks thinks it will probably be associated with this address.

ZoneAlarm Pro adds anti-spyware protection to ZoneAlarm's firewall product. Pair that with your favorite antivirus program, and you have a full security suite!

The latest version of the ZoneAlarm family has received good reviews. CNET Australia reviewed ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2009 and said, "ZoneAlarm Internet Security 2009 provides top-notch fundamental security protection that is light on system resources, allowing you to work unencumbered." It's also a perennial favorite of PC World, winning Editor's Choice awards four years in a row.

If you're not a fan of ZoneAlarm, you may want to check out Comodo's latest offering.

We'll see if the Checkpoint servers can cope with the increased demand. I'm sure we all remember what happened with the Codeweavers giveaway last month.

Update: at 6am Pacific, this page will be changed to offer the free Pro version.

Update: It's 6am Pacific, and still no link. The traffic has started. As I expected, their servers weren't able to handle the influx and there's a "we're sorry!" message up now.

Update: It's Live! Go and get it!

Tags: antivirus, firewall, free, giveaway, zonealarm

Filed under: Internet, Security, Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Free Comodo Internet Security is here - screenshot tour

by Lee Mathews Oct 30th 2008

As a long-time fan of Comodo Firewall, I was glad to see the company developing a more complete Internet defense application. On October 28th, they released Comodo Internet Security.

Why the move? To quote from the press release, Comodo's president Melih Abdulhayoglu believes that "Safe computing on the Internet should be a right, not a privilege." He continues, "We are offering an advanced, intelligent Internet Security package at no charge in order to promote a safer, trusted Internet for everyone."

So far, I'm every bit as impressed with Internet Security as I was with their standalone firewall. Apart from rolling the usual antivirus and firewall features, Comodo's new product sports a number of interesting features and very low resource utilization.

The program's main window is uncluttered and informative, providing a vitals like the status of protection systems and updates, and the present level of network activity. It also features links to quickly lock down your system or set the program to install mode (which tells it ramp down the activity alerts temporarily).

Tags: antivirus, comodo, firewall, internet security, InternetSecurity, malware, protection, safety, trojan, virus

Filed under: Internet, Security, Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Comodo Firewall Pro 3.0 released

by Christina Warren Nov 22nd 2007

Comodo Firewall Pro, one of the best firewalls available for Windows XP and Vista, has just been updated to version 3.0. Like all previous versions, Comodo Firewall Pro is free, and we like free. Unlike many other free (and some pay) firewall programs, Comodo has a rock solid record for security; we like this even more.

New features in this update include a change to the user interface (it looks more professional now and less GUI 101), an updated host prevention engine and application analysis, and a great new feature called "Clean PC" which profiles all the applications on a new PC (or a freshly formatted PC), registers them as "safe" and then only allows applications you approve to be installed. That's a great way to avoid malware from getting installed on your system - or the system of a less technical savvy relative. The application white list has also been updated to nearly 1 million trusted applications, about a 100x increase over Comodo 2.4.

One warning for users of Windows Vista and Avast! anti-virus, there seems to be a conflict between Avast! and Comodo, leading to long start-up times in Windows Vista. Updating to the newest version of Avast! before installing Comodo can help this problem, but it is still unresolved. Fear not - the program has only been in final release for a day - we're confident the conflict will be resolved quickly, but until then, you might want to wait on Comodo Pro Firewall 3. For everyone else, if you are still using the Windows Firewall (or worse, no firewall at all), we recommend giving Comodo a try.

Tags: comodo, comodo 3, comodo pro firewall, Comodo3, ComodoProFirewall, firewall, windows firewall, WindowsFirewall

Filed under: Security, Windows, Commercial, Freeware

PCLive: free security suite for Windows

by Brad Linder Oct 15th 2007

PCLive Security is a full featured security suite for Windows. It helps protect you from viruses, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, and adware. Oh yeah, and it happens to be free. While there are several other free security applications out there, none come with quite so many features in one package.

PCLive Security includes the ClamAV antivirus engine, a bi-directional firewall, and a pop-up and adware blocker.

There's also a paid version that includes technical support, hard drive maintenance, and file optimization features for $4.95 per month.

PCLive Security runs on Windows 2000/XP/Vista machines. On the downside, the installation process takes forever, and once PCLive Security is up and running it seems to be a bit of a resource hog. Oh yeah, and it will try to uninstall any other anti-virus software on your PC when you run the installer.

[via WebWare]

Tags: adware, anti-virus, antivirus, avast, avg-free, clamav, firewall, pclive, spyware

Filed under: Internet, News

China blocks RSS feeds

by Brad Linder Oct 5th 2007

While China has a history of blocking computer users' access to many sites on the world wide interwebs, many clever Chinese citizens have figured out that RSS feeds provided a way around the Chinese firewall. Until now.

Ars Technica reports that China has started blocking any URL that starts with "feeds," "rss," and "blog." That makes it pretty difficult to access the feeds for an awful lot of websites, including pretty much any site syndicated by FeedBurner.

It looks like some Chinese users are having success with online feed-readers like Newsgator. We'll see how long it takes before China bans Newsgator. In the meantime, there's always proxies and anonymous web browsers like Tor.

If you want to find out if your website is blocked in China, Website Pulse has a Great FireWall of China testing tool.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: block, blocking, censorship, china, filter, firewall, newsgator, rss

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Freeware

PC Tools Firewall Plus: free firewall for Windows Vista/XP/2000

by Brad Linder Oct 4th 2007

Sure, Windows comes with a basic firewall, but when it comes to protecting your computer from malicious attacks, you can never be too careful. PC Tools Firewall Plus is a powerful firewall from the makers of Spyware Doctor. And it also happens to be free.

PC Tools Firewall Plus gives you much more control over your firewall than the built in Windows Firewall application. There's an expert mode for advanced users, and a normal mode for umm.. normal users. The first time you run the firewall you'll get a bunch of pop-ups asking if you want to allow any programs you're currently running to access the internet.

But once you get past that, you can leave the firewall running in the background and pretty much ignore it. If you want to edit advanced permissions, view your history, or see the packets that have been blocked, you can do that. There's also a new stealth mode that lets your system hide from other computers on the network. In other words, you can connect to other computers, but they cannot connect to you.

[via Cybernet]

Tags: firewall, firewall-plus, pc-tools, spyware-doctor

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Freeware

Best free firewall for Windows? - Ask DLS

by Jordan Running Nov 6th 2006

So I'm sitting here on a brand new Windows install (more on that later) and thinking, "I have got to get a real firewall up." The trouble is, I'm extraordinarily cheap. For a long time I've been using Sygate Personal Firewall--so long, in fact, that in the time since Symantec has acquired Sygate and killed the poor thing off. It's still available elsewhere on the internets, but is there a better option out there? Tell me, dear readers, who is the king of the free firewall software for Windows these days?

Tags: askdls, firewall, free, freeware, windows

Filed under: Internet, Security, Utilities, Features, Windows, Office, Productivity, Web services, Freeware, P2P

AOL Active Security Monitor review

by Chris Gilmer Jul 31st 2006

There are tons of threatening viruses, spyware, and other yucky things out there in the world wide web. They have the powers to potentially access your computer if it is not locked down with security software, ensuring there are no kinds of intrusions and any malicious hacking going on. Is your computer protected against the many potentially dangerous things floating around the internet? Do you know for sure? How can you know for sure? And how do you get started and stay on top of your computers security? AOL has made it easier. A whole lot easier at ensuring you know how your computer is doing, staying up to date with its security, and protecting against all things threatening. I recently installed AOL's Active Security Monitor to check out my systems vitals, and how I was doing at staying secure on the machines I connect to the internet with. I knew I was lacking in some areas, but not that much!

Disclosure: Download Squad is owned by AOL. Nonetheless, the following is a completely unbiased review of AOL's Active Security Monitor software by myself. I absolutely loved it, and think it does a very effective job at ensuring users know how secure their computer really is and aiding in increasing security when needed.

Tags: active security monitor, ActiveSecurityMonitor, aol, aolasm, asm, browser, computer, firewall, hacking, home network, HomeNetwork, internet, monitor, network security, NetworkSecurity, p2p, pc, peer to peer, PeerToPeer, safety score, SafetyScore, security, spyware, spyware protection, SpywareProtection, utilities, virus, virus protection, VirusProtection, wifi, windows, wireless security, WirelessSecurity, worms, xp

Filed under: Security, Windows, Microsoft

Vista to ship with crippled firewall

by Jordan Running Apr 26th 2006

We've heard no end to Microsoft's boasting about Windows Vista's first-rate security features, and yet here comes news that by default Vista's built-in firewall, though it has the capability, will not block any outgoing traffic. Wuh? Microsoft says half of the firewall will be disabled because corporate and government customers "would like to manage this feature from an administrator level," and that users who want to block outgoing connections from spyware and viruses will have to turn it on themselves, which "will require a varying degree of technical knowledge, depending on each user's security requirements," and we all know that most users just aren't going to bother.

Tags: firewall, security, vista, windows

Filed under: Internet, Security, Windows, Symantec, Commercial

Symantec to release subscription-based security mega-pack

by Jordan Running Feb 3rd 2006

Symantec is making loud noises about its new "Security 2.0" initiative, which will usher in "a new age of trust on the Internet." What is it? Well, it's some new products with a snappy name. The first product is an unnamed app resulting from Symantec's recent acquisition of WholeSecurity that's designed to prevent phishing. The second is a big new package Symantec is calling "Genesis," and which will go head-to-head with Microsoft's OneCare, providing "anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention, firewall, PC optimization and maintenance elements, the transaction security tools, and online/offline backup." Genesis will be a subscription-based product and is being readied for Windows Vista users.

[Via Slashdot]

Tags: antivirus, firewall, onecare, security, spam, spyware, symantec

Filed under: Security, Windows, Microsoft

Microsoft OneCare not much of a firewall

by Jordan Running Feb 1st 2006

Microsoft has made much of Windows OneCare, its new security bundle that includes, among other things, a firewall. It turns out, however, that in its default configuration OneCare's firewall is full of holes. According to InfoWorld's Roger Grimes, OneCare automatically permits all traffic from two types of programs: Any program using the Java Virtual Machine, and any program digitally signed. Microsoft has responded to the criticisms by saying that the JVM exception can be turned off (something that novice users will never, ever do), and that spyware is rarely signed. Concerning the latter, Grimes correctly points out that signed spyware is not unheard of and that when OneCare becomes the default security solution for many users, signed spyware will become the norm. While OneCare is still in beta and Microsoft could change the default settings for its final release, their responses (posted on Grimes' blog) don't really inspire optimism.

Tags: firewall, hole, java, jvm, microsoft, onecare, security, vulnerability, windows

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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