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ZDNet Rating: ZDNet Review
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When you have access to the Internet, especially over an always-on high-speed broadband connection, your valuable files and sensitive information may be at risk. Without special software to guard your PC, hackers can access your computer to steal files or use it for nefarious purposes--even when you're not around. Tiny Personal Firewall (TPF) 2.0 from Tiny Software protects your PC from unauthorised access by monitoring the TCP/IP ports hackers use to get into your system, then allowing you to permit or deny connections, either at that moment or at any future recurrence. Tiny Personal Firewall gives competitor ZoneAlarm a run for its money, since it doesn't host the same annoying ads. Still, ZoneAlarm's ease of use and thorough security features make it our top pick for home users.
Easy installation
To get started with TPF, just download the svelte 1.5MB file. The self-executing file automatically starts itself and begins the installation; the whole process takes less than a minute. After TPF's brief installation dialog, in which you enter basic information about your connection and reboot, TPF works in the background from the system tray while you work in other applications.
A breeze to use
To raise or lower TPF's security settings, simply right-click the TPF icon in the system tray and select Firewall Administration. By default, TPF is set to Ask Me First, a setting that tells TPF to ask you for your permission to allow all incoming and outgoing port probes, or attempts to send or receive data. With this setting, whenever your PC tries to connect to another machine or an outside machine tries to connect to your PC--say, when you're sending data to a Web site or downloading software--you'll have to approve the request.
In the Firewall Administration pane, you can also increase protection to stop your applications from sending out any data and stop outside applications from sending data to you (high security). Or, you can ease protection to allow all communication except those connections you've specifcally restricted in your settings (low security). The Advanced button in the Administration window lets you create and edit filter rules, which, for instance, instruct TPF to deny all future requests from a given IP address. The Advanced button also allows you to adjust the level of detail in alert logs--the history of intruder alert message--and decide how long to store them on your PC.
Another nice TPF feature: the app lets you view the status of all open connections by right-clicking the TPF icon in the system tray and selecting the Firewall Status window. The resulting dialog lists the status of all applications on your system that are sending or receiving data. Although this information may seem cryptic at first glance, it provides a comprehensive summary of which apps are making contact with the outside world. When an unauthorised application attempts to communicate with your system, an alert window pops up. You can then permit or deny the connection or choose to add filter rules so that TPF will know whether to permit or deny that connection in the future.
Comprehensive protection
To test TPF, we used Port Detective over Juno's ISP service. We tested TPF's high, medium, and low security settings and found that when TPF was at the highest security setting, Port Detective could not even access TPF. When we reset TPF to its medium setting, the tests ran without compromising any ports. We were able to compromise ports only on the lowest setting. Fortunately, TPF comes set with the medium level of protection by default, so if you leave it in default mode, you should be perfectly safe. The trade-off: you'll have to interact with TPF annoyingly often to accept or reject communication requests.
Numerous support options
Although TPF lacks a live online help option, it does offer plenty of support avenues. Tiny Software maintains an online manual and FAQ that can answer many common questions. You can also download a manual as a PDF file from Tiny Software's site. Tiny also offers email support, or you can call a toll-free number (it's a toll call for international users).
Tiny Personal Firewall is a simple and straightforward choice for anyone who needs a firewall on a home PC. Add in the fact that it's free, and it makes sense to download TPF to protect your system from unwanted intrusions.
The good: Free; solid protection against hacker attacks; easy to set up and use.
The bad: No live online help; intruder alerts are cryptic.
The bottom line: Tiny Personal Firewall offers comprehensive protection for any home Web surfer. Best of all, it's free and well worth the download.
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| • | ZDNet recommends | • | ZoneAlarm 2.6 |
| • | Norton Personal Firewall 2002 | • | McAfee Firewall 3.0 |
| • | BlackIce Defender 2.5 | • | Tiny Personal Firewall 2.0.14 |
| • | Feature comparison | • | ZDNet Labs tests personal firewalls |
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