Kerio Personal Firewall
The Kerio Personal Firewall was very simple and quick to install from the downloaded version. The IDS is on by default, so after the system reboots, it asks a couple of questions about allowing traffic through certain ports— this could cause some problems for inexperienced users. The configuration of system is very easy, and based on the “block everything and then let what needs to pass through, pass through” theory, but often the defaults are less than ideal.When we connected to the Windows file share, surfed the Web and started our e-mail client, we received warnings. Once that traffic had been okayed, all transfers were working fine.
Further configuration allowed us to create MD5 application signatures to protect the system from Trojan horses imitating trusted programs. There is also a separate screen that displays which connections are open, and displays clearly what each application is doing at any given moment.
Kerio Personal Firewall can be managed with an encrypted remote management tool, and the system has password protection that keeps users from changing security policy on their own. It can also be run as a service to ensure the computer is protected from start-up.
This product is easy to install and use, but there needs to be a bit of care taken when setting the rules so that huge holes are not opened up. Help and online documentation were both quite good.
| Product: | Kerio Personal Firewall |
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| Price: | US$39 per user, free for home and personal use |
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| Vendor: | Kerio |
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| Phone: | +1 408 496 4500 |
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| Web: | www.kerio.com |
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| Interoperability: |
Good personal system, no management features. |
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| Futureproofing: |
Easy to navigate but some rule defaults can cause trouble. |
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| ROI: |
½Good product for the price. |
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| Service: |
½Good documentation and online help. |
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| Rating: |
½ |
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3%
5%
central silent installs?? was in ice cap but to my knowledge not yet wriitten into SP!!