You can click on any feature to scroll down to its description.
The following are descriptions of each feature used in the comparison table above.
Number of Leak Tests blocked — Leak test is a program that tests the efficiency
of outbound filtering used by personal firewalls. Leak test in some way are similar to trojans (backdoors) but their methodology
is more complicated. There are 5 so called leak test included to this comparison: Leak Test (http://grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm), Yalta (http://www.soft4ever.com/security_test/En/index.htm), TooLeaky (http://tooleaky.zensoft.com/), FireHole (http://keir.net/firehole.html), Outbound (http://www.hackbusters.net/ob.html). top
Application packet level Filtering — Application level filtering enables firewall
to monitor the behavior of applications. This kind of filtering should allow specifying individual activities for an application.
For example, ”Allow Outlook Express outbound communication using TCP protocol to remote port 80 and remote host mymail.server.com
and deny all other activity“ top
Detects Internet attacks — Detection of remote attacks and exploits, such
as Nuke, Teardrop, NesTea, IGMP_SYN and others. top
Stateful inspection protocols — Stateful inspection firewall technology keeps
a table of active TCP and UDP sessions and is more secure than packet filtering because it allows smaller paths along which
traffic can pass. top
Stealth from hackers — Normally, when your computer receives a connection
request from another computer to a closed port, it sends an answer back to let the other computer know that the port is closed.
In stealth mode, your computer will not respond, making it seem like it is not turned on or not connected to the Internet.
top
Email attachments (worms) quarantine — Possibility to neutralize (rename)
dangerous attachments in incoming e-mail. top
Blocks Web history (referrer) — When you surf the web your browser can reveal
the information about previously visited web sites. Web site operators can use this private info in marketing purposes. This
info is called “referrer” and some firewalls can block it. top
Blocks Flash / Banner / Pop-up ads — Ability to block web page advertisement
banners (including Flash) and annoying pop-up windows. top
Filters executable (ActiveX) in web / email — Ability to block potentially
dangerous executable content (ActiveX) of web pages and email messages. top
Filters cookies in web / email — Ability to allow/block cookies. Cookie —
is a small piece of information transferred by the server to a browser and saved on the user's computer. The browser stores
this information and sometimes transfers it to the server. top
Filters active scripts in web / email — Ability to block potentially dangerous
scripts (Java, Visual Basic etc.) of web pages and email messages. top
Auto detects apps / network during install — Ability to detect and apply applications
and local area network and applying the setting for them during the installation. This lets rookie users start using the firewall
without any configuration changes. top
Predefined access levels for apps / system — If a firewall has predefined
access levels (presets) for applications and network, it means that it will search its application database and suggest to
you a set of rules that were worked out by personal firewall developers that are optimum for this application. This very powerful
technique lets you create rules with one click and without any special knowledge of ports or protocols. top
Automatic update — Automated separate utility that downloads and installs
new Firewall executables and settings for optimal protection against new attacks. This is not to be confused with a “Check
for updates” button that just checks if an update is available and gives instructions on how to manually install the
update. top
Can switch between different configurations — Ability to create different
configurations for you and your family or colleagues, even if you use the same Windows profile. top
Trust address group — Special dialog where you can allow all network activity
for selected, trusted home or work place computers without creating special rules for them. top
Displays active connections / open ports — Ability to report about current
network status of computer by displaying active connection and open ports. top
View / Filter connections history — Special utility that displays the history
of all connections and events. User can filter the information to display any connections or events he or she wants to see.
For example, “All connections made by Outlook Express from 9am to 11am on May 11th”. top
Passwords protected security settings — Ability to password protect your settings.
top
Halts / Allows all internet traffic — Ability to stop/allow all internet traffic
with one click ignoring all firewall rules. top
Parental and employee control — Possibility to block some web sites because
of its content, based on a database of such sites, domain names (playboy.com) or keywords in web pages (“explosives”,
“violence”, etc) top
Visual Trace — Special utility that can trace the origin of hacker attacking
your computer. top
Alerts messages — Pop-up messages which warn you about attacks on your computer
or any other dangerous activities of your. top
Can run hidden from user eyes — Possibility to Block unwanted traffic or content
in a way that's completely hidden from a user's eyes (also called “Run as service”). top
Accelerates connection time — Caches all resolved DNS names in a special database
that significantly decrease connection times to any kind of service or site — WWW, E-mail, News, ICQ, etc. top
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