Norton Personal Firewall 2003

With less hand-holding and a greater feeling of control and configuration, Norton is definitely geared more towards the advanced user than McAfee. Although the interface is quite different, it's undoubtedly more professional.

Things got off to a great start with the installation process, which took a fair amount of time thanks to the step that scanned my test bed PC for all Internet-enabled applications. I was surprised when it came back with a list of some 239 such things, a large number of which began with the name Microsoft. Once this list is presented, you could accept the default settings that Norton allocates to each application based on its knowledge of the software and its purposes. However, we recommend taking the time to scan through them and change options from 'automatic' to either 'ask' or 'block' according to your knowledge of the applications.

Other useful tricks include a privacy control feature that lets you block cookies and create a precise list of information that it won't divulge to any application without your permission. There's even a built-in ad blocker and pop-up window stopper. On top of this, there's the usual intrusion detecting. Plus, Norton will alert you to any program attempting to communicate outside your safe PC boundary onto the Internet, and lets you decide how to handle such requests.

The Alert Assistant provides detailed information when any unauthorised communication is detected, and it's this level of detail that appeals to us. It can also be found in the informative log-reporting and statistics display. LiveUpdate keeps you at the cutting edge, and a one-click disconnect enables immediate blocking of all traffic.

Norton is a secure personal firewall that's easy to use and offers great value despite its extra cost. However, the competition - Outpost Pro and ZoneAlarm Pro - offer a greater degree of control and functionality for the advanced user.

Author: Davey Winder