Labs

When we tested this software in last year's firewall group test we noted its technical excellence, value for money and horrible interface. The good news is that it's still a powerful firewall with an attractive price. The bad news is that it looks like the control panel of a spaceship.

From the start Sygate Personal Firewall Pro asks some pretty 'Pro' questions. Unlike the other programs, Sygate's application control system makes no assumptions and asks questions about nearly every Windows component. This will scare almost every normal Windows user, and

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we wish Sygate would address the issue.

However, we're upgrading it to five stars and a Best Budget Buy award because, despite the way it looks, it's simply one of the best personal firewalls available and is now stunning value compared to the competition. Not only is it one of the cheapest products to buy, it's certainly the cheapest to run after the first year as it comes with a perpetual licence.

It's not even that hard to use once you get over the pre-Windows XP interface. Giving people on the internet access to IIS is a simple matter of opening the Applications window and highlighting IIS. Choose to allow port 80 and you're away. FTP and SMTP remain blocked from the outside world.

The firewall's IDS detected our web attacks, as well as the standard and stealthy scans, making its detection comparable with the intrusion detection systems used by ISS, Kaspersky Lab, Symantec and Trend Micro.

If you never intend to allow incoming traffic, you'll install this program and happily forget about it. If you want to learn about firewalls and allow visitors from the internet to access your PC, this is still a great choice.