Pros

• Norman Personal Firewall suits both experts and beginners
• It contains a remarkably high number of tutorial videos and an excellent knowledgebase which is necessary to consult when problems arise

Cons

• Telephone support is not free
• There is no online chat support

View side-by-side comparison of Personal Firewall Software

Norman Personal Firewall is one of the best personal firewall software programs. And that’s because it has features that stop hackers and malicious programs from infiltrating your PC.

With Norman Personal Firewall installed, you can be confident your personal details are safe. And that you won’t fall into the hands of scammers.

As a standalone personal firewall software program, it provides extra protection that you won’t get from a firewall that’s part of an antivirus program. And it will provide strong protection from viruses, worms and Trojans and many other malware programs out there.

So its primary job is to allow or deny traffic based on security-industry standard practices and on users responses that teach rules to the firewall.

Features

The firewall places ports known to invite hackers into stealth mode. It then inspects traffic checking for any malicious intent.

Despite being an effective firewall program, Norman at times isn’t able to hold its own when subjected to advanced hackers.

But it effectively detects and reports on Trojans and spyware. However quaranting and removing these threats is not its job. This is where it works with other security software like antivirus and antispyware programs.

Norman firewall offers its users a free service to upload files suspected of malware infection to the Norman Sandbox on their corporate website. Norman then analyses the file and then emails the user the results.

Ease of Use

Norman Personal firewall accommodates experts and beginners alike. As a beginner, you will have an installation wizard which will guide you through the setup and use process and allows you to configure the software easily.

The configuration wizard will provide you with the option of an experienced or inexperienced setup. And if you pick the inexperienced option, it will allow the firewall to make several decisions on your behalf and therefore provide maximum protection.

Help and Support

Norman Personal Firewall includes many self-help files that you can access on their website. They include an online knowledgebase and video tutorials that describe the software and its usage.

And they also include details about solutions to problems you might experience with the software.

If you need to contact the support team, you will have the option of their phone support and email support systems. Their phone support is available from the United States from 8:30am to 5:30pm (Eastern) for $20 per incident. And their email support is free.

They have an experienced team that will help you with any problem or query you may have.

Summary

Norman is a top personal firewall software program, but it lags behind the likes of ZoneAlarm Pro, Outpost Firewall Pro and Sunbelt Personal Firewall. Despite this, you won’t be disappointed with its ability to stop threats and keep you safe from hackers.

Pros

• ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall provides you with one year of identity-theft protection
• It’s a slightly better firewall than Trend Micro, but not as good as BitDefender
• It monitors behaviours within your computer and stops them before they harm your PC. This includes traditional and new threats

Cons

• The help section is not as good as some of the competition
• Nothing new worth mentioning in the latest version

View side-by-side comparison of Personal Firewall Software

ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall is one of the best personal firewall software programs. And that’s because it stops traffic threats that are arriving or departing from your computer through email and IM communications.

You won’t be disappointed with its effectiveness. And you’ll find the software very easy to use.

If you already have an antivirus or antispyware program installed, you will find it works easily with these programs. Of course it will depend on which security software you have, but you’ll find that ZoneAlarm Pro cooperates with all popular anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.

Features

ZoneAlarm Pro has some noteworthy features. And we’ve found them able to match and surpass other Personal firewall software programs like Norman Personal Firewall, Outpost Firewall Pro and Sunbelt Personal Firewall.

It prevents any malware threats sneaking past it. And in cooperation with your antivirus program, it removes those already infecting your PC.

It also has the ability to analyse the potential danger of a downloaded program on your PC. And it’s also able to authenticate when and where a website you visit was registered and whether it’s safe or dangerous.

Although ZoneAlarm Firewall Pro is not able to scan your incoming mail, it has the ability to scan your outgoing mail. So this helps prevent the spread of malware and other threats.

Ease of Use

ZoneAlarm Pro is a firewall for both experts and beginners alike. It allows easy configuration and management and as a beginner you won’t find its features taxing.

And if you’re a more experienced user, you’ll find the advanced features very powerful and easy to configure. If it detects that it is being hijacked, it retreats into a protected state and ensures that it is not compromised. And the toolbar supports the antiphishing features.

Your firewall also trains itself to configure settings based on your PC use. It automatically updates itself to maintain current security lists. And you can control when and where the firewall sends alerts. You can easily suppress these alerts when you’re gaming for example, to prevent interruption.

Help and Support

ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall has an outstanding support service and it’s one of the best we’ve seen in any security software.

They have a Knowledgebase, a blog, a forum, Facebook and Twitter accounts. And all these you can use to find solutions to your software or threat problems, or if you have a general query.

Summary

ZoneAlarm has a community of users who share information and tools to defeat new security threats. And this helps ZoneAlarm maintain an up-to-date software that protects you from all malicious threats.

DefenseNet is a feature managed by the research team and receives data from users anonymously to identify the signatures of quick spreading threats.

Pros

• Outpost Firewall Pro has a superb antispyware module that’s unrivalled in the industry
• It offers protection against keyloggers who are looking to steal your personal details
• It prevents alerts from disturbing when you are in Game Mode
• Updates are available every hour to ensure your PC is up-to-date

Cons

• One of the less well-known brands
• Technical Chat support is not available 24/7

View side-by-side comparison of Personal Firewall Software

Outpost Firewall Pro is the best stand-alone personal firewall software program.

It includes an antispyware module; a feature you won’t find in other personal firewall software programs. So you won’t just be blocking threats, you will also be removing those already resident in your PC, especially before installation.

Your Windows XP, Vista or 7 Operating system will have a firewall but it won’t be as powerful as Outpost Firewall Pro. It won’t provide the high level of protection you need from a top firewall software that can stop the latest threats. And that’s what you get from Outpost Firewall Pro.

Firewall Features

DefenseNet is a feature in Outpost Firewall Pro that collects anonymous data with users’ approval to expand on its threat database. This helps it deploy more automatic rules and provide instant protection for your PC.

Outpost Pro is able to pass most difficult leak tests and won’t leave you open to keyloggers and other spies looking to steal your personal details.

However, it has been known to miss some malware threats. And occasionally fails to protect against threats that look to delete or corrupt the registry keys. Despite being the leading personal firewall software, this is where Outpost lags behind other firewall programs like Norman Personal Firewall, ZoneAlarm Pro Firewall and Sunbelt Personal Firewall.

Outpost Firewall Pro goes beyond strict firewall functionality and has the ability to detect and destroy malware. It allows parents and administrators the ability to block content or traffic that’s a threat according to rules that they set.

And if you’re a gamer, the background mode allows you to play games and applications in full-screen mode without firewall alert interference.

And if you’re not in background mode and still want to enjoy a full-screen application, you can select the entertainment mode without interrupting your full-screen applications.

So both modes allow you to prevent alerts interfering with your PC use.

Ease of Use

Installing Outpost Firewall pro is simple. Before installation though, it detects incompatible software so that it can be removed. And that’s because it’s not designed to cooperate with other security software.

During the installation process, the wizard will provide you with normal or advanced settings to choose from. You can choose any of the two depending on your experience and needs.

There’s also a configuration option which automatically trains the firewall software within one week to create necessary rules.

The interface

You’ll find the interface easy to use and all the tabs clearly labelled. And it will have a toolbar which you’ll use to provide shortcuts to product functions.

Help/Support

Outpost Firewall Pro don’t provide you with phone support, but you can contact the support team via email or live chat. And you’ll have a blog, forum and knowledgebase to refer to for more help. And their website will provide you with documentation for your software.

Summary

Outpost Firewall Pro is a good personal firewall software that defends you from all forms of threats. It’s very easy to install and is good for all users.

Pros

• Sunbelt Personal Firewall has a unique interface which you’ll find easy to use
• It’s one of the best firewall software suites at blocking malware (malicious software) like viruses, worms and Trojans
• It is also one of the cheapest in the market
• Updates are available automatically and every hour of the day keeping your PC secure 24/7

Cons

• It’s password protection is not as secure as what we’ve found in other firewall software suites

View side-by-side comparison of Personal Firewall Software

Sunbelt Personal Firewall is built for one main purpose. And that’s to stop malicious programs reaching your PC.

It doesn’t matter what threat it is, as long as it’s not right for your PC, Sunbelt will ensure it is blocked to prevent harm to you.

Threats do evolve over time of course and new ones emerge daily. And at times your spam filter software may not be able to keep up with it all. So you could be left open to various threats and data theft could be a reality you may face.

But that’s not what we found during our Sunbelt Personal Firewall software review. And the best part is it works well with antivirus and antispyware programs to bring you additional protection. This includes security products from other manufacturers and not just Sunbelt.

The threats that Sunbelt personal firewall will protect you from are many and varied. They include all forms of malware(malicious software) threats and hackers, phishing attacks, spam, keyloggers and more.

An antivirus program can only go so far in protecting you from hackers. You need a combination of all security programs including your antispyware software. But most importantly, you need a firewall like Sunbelt that will prevent these threats from actually reaching you.

And that’s the beauty of a good firewall software program. It blocks threats and doesn’t allow them to infect your PC. As they say, prevention is better than cure.

So why pick Sunbelt personal firewall over other programs like Outpost Firewall Pro, ZoneAlarm Firewall Pro or Norman Personal Firewall?

From the firewall reviews we’ve carried out, all the above have been effective and have easily stopped the threats we’ve thrown at them.

But there are a couple of things we liked about Sunbelt that give it an edge over the competition.

For starters, Sunbelt Personal firewall software is easy to install, irrespective of your computer skills. Whether a novice or experienced user, the process will be simple and you’ll have it fully installed in a few minutes.

During installation, you’ll have the choice of a simple or advanced installation. The latter involves a learning mode and you’ll be able to familiarise yourself with the software.

After installation, the software will allow you to tweak the various interface features to your specific needs and it will now be fully operational, ready to protect.

The interface has a traffic monitor that will display a graph with the amount of incoming or outgoing traffic in Kilobytes per second. It has a switch which will allow you to stop all traffic, and you’ll notice the graph will quickly record it.

It also has a pop-up blocker and ad-blocker which you use to stop all annoying pop-ups and adverts. You create rules and define the ports to be accessed and the firewall software will act accordingly.

Summary

There are many other good features we found during our Sunbelt personal firewall software review and they easily match and beat some of the competition.

All in all, it’s a good firewall program and it will provide you with the high level of protection you need.