Norton Personal Firewall 2005

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Setup and interface : 8.0
  Features : 7.0
  Performance : 8.0
  Service and support : 6.0
  Overall score: 7.3 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Stephen Bigelow
• Edited by:
  Robert Vamosi
• Reviewed on: 10/22/2004
• Updated on: 10/26/2009
• Released on: 08/17/2004

Norton Personal Firewall 2005 is easy to set up and makes your computer invisible to hackers, port sniffers, and other bad characters without any effort on your part. But at $50, it remains overpriced, given that it offers little perceptible change from last year's version and that ZoneAlarm offers comparable firewall protection for free.

Insert the Norton Personal Firewall (NPF) CD, and installation begins automatically; next, you must enter the lengthy CD key to activate the product. Some users may be wary of the activation process, but it's actually quick and doesn't require any personal information. Once you've installed the software, you should run Live Update to check for patches and updated firewall definition files.

For most everyday home users, NPF's out-of-the box default settings will work well. But moving the security slider on the Firewall tab from Medium to High will significantly tighten security. The Custom Level button on the Firewall tab lets you tweak the individual security features for each security level. Unlike McAfee Personal Firewall, which requires you to drill down through several layers of dialog boxes, Norton conveniently keeps configuration information on the first level of the interface or only one layer down. The Firewall tab also lets you select basic settings, such as the overall security level. The Programs tab tracks each program that operates through the firewall, making it easy to locate unauthorized or unexpected software access to the Internet. The Networking tab gives you precise control over which computers on your LAN get access to files on the PC. The Locations tab allows you to customize the firewall for different environments (such as home or office). The Advanced tab lets you tweak settings for specific types of Internet traffic.

New features in this version include Norton Privacy Control, which blocks personal data such as credit card and social security numbers from leaking out to the Internet via e-mail, instant messages, Microsoft Office attachments, or Web forms. Rival program ZoneAlarm Pro has had this privacy-lock feature for years. Another new feature remembers to enable the firewall after you turn it off to install new software. ZoneAlarm Pro won't remind you.

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Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 0.5 stars out of 10 reviews
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• Showing 3 of 10 user reviews

• 1.5 stars

  "Bloated, slow, and bug ridden!"

  by davemarshalljr on November 17, 2006

• 0.5 stars

  "Norton Sucks a activation Bug!"

  by btalex1990 on October 11, 2006

• 0.5 stars

  "Absolutely worst piece of software of I have purchased in 20 years of computing"

  by papete2001 on July 14, 2006

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