Just to chime in: I bought a copy of BlackIce about 18 months back
(version 2.1), I thought it was terrible and uninstalled it. Too many
false alarms, difficult to understand, etc.
I thought there was a free version of Zone Alarm that I looked at
afterwards. That seemed better, but would have required lots of time to
train. If I remember correctly, Black Ice didn't watch outgoing traffic,
but Zone Alarm did. That seems more interesting to me, since I already
know we are being portscanned almost hourly.
I was actually somewhat miffed that the Store was pushing Black Ice so
hard. (the clerk even had on one of their T-shirts today) I've meant to
ask Joe Budzyn what he thought of it, maybe it is much better
now.
(But then I get a kick out watching the reaction when I tell people we
don't have a firewall. We've been on the Internet about 15 years
and I would have a hard time giving examples of when a firewall would
have been a big help)
-jav
At 02:15 PM 1/16/2003 -0500, Cheryl wrote:
BlackICE personal firewall as sold
by the computer store for $5
Should I recommend it to my faculty users?
Rating?
1) Better than nothing
2) More trouble than it is worth
3) If you're going to pay, buy something worthwhile like Zone
Alarm
Is the firewall in XP as good as the one in BlackIce for nonserver
purposes?
Other thoughts?
* John Valenti Systems Analyst, Labor & Industrial Relations *
* 408 S Kedzie Hall, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI 48824
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* (517) 353-1807 fax (517) 355-7656
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