In CNET Labs' official tests, NPF, like most of the other firewalls we reviewed, closed all of the ports on our test computer and made them invisible to hackers. So, not only will hackers be unable to access your closed ports, they won't even know you're online.
Limited support
If NPF gets too confusing for you, you can find free e-mail support 24/7 at the Symantec Web site. The Web site offers patches, updates, downloadable manuals, FAQs, and a searchable knowledge base for particular questions. Replies to our e-mail came a little faster from Symantec than from McAfee, but the answers were rather short and basic; don't expect lots of hand-holding. There is no free telephone support for NIS, but fee-based support is available.
Solid but pricey
All in all, NPF 2002 has what it takes to protect your PC from intruders without and digital traitors within. However, unless you want a program that, say, warns you before you send personal information, at $49.95 NPF costs too much for us to recommend it over equally effective and less expensive products such as ZoneAlarm.
User reviews
- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 89 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
