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A Free Firewall Alternative
Subscriber Peter Killick wrote recently to tell me about a free firewall alternative that he's been using, which is about to be available as a commercial product:
Hi Terry,
Re free wirewalls: I haven't tried the Kerio firewall you recommend since Sunbelt took it over, but I found the original Kerio free version totally reliable.
Reason I haven't tried the Sunbelt version, I'm currently running with Kaspersky Internet security suite 6, which appeared as a free six-month trial on a UK magazine cover disk a couple months back. It's very comprehensive and contains its own firewall, which seems pretty good. (I do still also use Counterspy to hunt down the very occasional adware that Kaspersky fails to stop; otherwise this suite does everything.)
But for the real subject of this mail, I don't know whether you are aware of the quite new Ashampoo firewall. From my experiences with other software from this German company and with German software in general (eg Magix Audio Cleaning Lab, Nero Burning ROM, Ragtime Solo, Virtual CD, etc) this will be something really good.
There's a free version at: http://www.ashampoo-root03.com/webcache/html/1/product_2_0050_.htm and a new heavy duty paid for version is coming out before the end of this month, currently on a half price pre-order offer at: http://r.ashampoo.com/mailings/1/061006_en.htm until October 23.
I'll probably revert to this Ashampoo product combined with the free AOL Active Virus Shield (which, as far as I know is effectively powered by the full antivirus part of the Kaspersky suite) and Counterspy when my free Kaspersky suite six month period expires - because the renewal costs for Kaspersky are GBP 40 per year which I can't afford.
I think that combo will offer almost as much as Kaspersky at very much less cost.
Sorry I can't report on the effectiveness of the Ashampoo firewall just yet, but I thought you might like to have a look at it while the launch offer is still around. The free version looks very user friendly. From memory, when I installed Kerio I didn't know much at all about what was going on, and that problem looks like it may have been addressed by Ashampoo.
Best, Peter
Thanks, Peter. I appreciate the email.
I suggest reading more about the AOL Active Virus Shield. They're taking a lot of flak over the EULA.
Here's an article at ComputerWorld.
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Copyright © 2006-2007 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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