Labs

Agnitum's Outpost is a feature-packed program that includes standard firewall protection and some useful extras. These are automatically installed as plug-ins that provide anti-spyware, active content and advert-blocking protection.

When we first installed the software and rebooted, it presented a complicated-looking warning that we didn't understand. We guessed it was Outpost's update utility and allowed it to connect, as Outpost suggested. The Smart Advisor helper went some way to reassuring us, but it's not a definitive guide and uses

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many technical terms. Many firewalls give obscure messages when first installed as Windows components try to connect, and Outpost is no exception.

Trying to access the web server from another computer made the firewall run its automatic rule system, which correctly guessed the settings and allowed access to our site. It didn't allow access to the mail and file transfer services, which is very good. However, by default it securely adds the visiting computer's IP address to the rule, which means only that PC can visit the site.

You'll need to edit this, removing 'specified remote host' from the list of options. You'll also want to do the same with the other automatic rules, even those that block, or you'll get alerts whenever new systems try to access banned ports.

Agnitum quietly logged port scans but failed to spot our web probing attack, which means its IDS only examines attempts to gain access, rather than monitoring permitted connections.

Outpost is very easy to use, reasonably priced and will block hackers effectively as long as you don't intend to run internet services on your desktop or laptop PC.