Product Reviews

Norton Internet Security is a three-product suite aimed at consumers and small businesses concerned about the hazards associated with being online. Bundled with version 7.0 of Norton Anti-Virus, and a copy of Aladdin's iClean 3.5 (a handy utility which can eliminate Internet cookies, cache files and logs of where you've surfed) is Norton Personal Firewall.

A firewall is a barrier between your Mac and the Internet, or indeed any network: it works by a series of filters that can be configured to block certain types of connections to your machine. Firewalls have long been used by companies to defend their networks against menaces such as hackers, but until recently they haven't been aimed at home users.

The long-awaited advent of always-on connections to the Internet in the form of ADSL and cable modems could make your Mac much more vulnerable to someone prying into your business, engaging in industrial espionage, or just making mischief. The challenge is to make a firewall package which is cheap and easy enough for someone outside an IT department to use, but which is powerful enough to offer real protection. Norton Personal Firewall is a pretty good attempt.

On restarting your Mac after a simple install, Personal Firewall automatically places an icon on the control strip, which is a convenient way to switch settings and enable and disable the firewall. On startup Personal Firewall automatically loads into memory and is effective without you having to

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do anything.

Personal Firewall can block intrusions through TCP/IP and UDP connections used by the Internet. But it can't block direct AppleTalk connections and Personal Firewall warns that if your AppleTalk connection uses the same port as your Internet connection, you could enable someone to get access to your Mac, even with Personal Firewall running.

As befits a consumer-targeted program, Personal Firewall is designed to be easy to use, works in the background and the simple configuration menu offers a range of levels of protection. For example, you might not want to deny your own ISP access to your Mac as some service providers insist on this when you send emails. A more advanced menu lets you deny access to specific IP numbers. But unless you're an Internet expert and know exactly what you're doing, this option could be more dangerous than helpful. Personal Firewall didn't seem to be overly intrusive and activities like streaming RealVideo content from the BBC Web site were not interfered with.

Personal Firewall will log every access attempt made on your computer and can even be configured to show you both permitted and denied access attempts. If nothing else this may engender a sense of paranoia as you begin to realise just how often being on the Internet subjects you to probes by other computers.

It's very hard to say how effective Personal Firewall is to a concerted attack, but it did repel a mocked-up attempt to gain unlawful access to our Mac over the Internet. If nothing else, though, it offers a degree of privacy.

It's worth noting that Personal Firewall doesn't control or offer security for any personal data that you might send across the Internet. It doesn't control outgoing data, it doesn't encrypt personal data on things like credit card numbers and it doesn't block objectionable Web sites. Sensibly enough, though, Norton bundles Norton Anti-Virus as another layer of protection.

Personal Firewall needs to be used with care, but it can provide a degree of reassurance when you surf the Internet.