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 *
* (517) 353-1807 fax (517) 355-7656 [log in to unmask] *