Outpost Firewall Pro Review

The new Outpost Firewall Pro from Agnitum is a great addition to the security software arsenal. The interface is clear and very well organized, making this software very easy to use.

The parameters are easy configurable but some of the advanced options could render problems to new users. As an addition to the new and improved firewall engine, Agnitum has added a home brewed rock-solid anti-spyware engine that can run in two modes: an on-demand scanner and a guard component that prevents installation of spyware pests. This feature makes it superior to many firewalls that don't have this capabilities because you get a 2-in-1 product for a reasonable price. The product is also capable of protecting itself against dangerous programs (like the well known firewall and antivirus killers): With self-protection turned on, Outpost Firewall Pro protects itself against termination caused by viruses, Trojans or spyware.

The engine is very capable and modular, allowing the user to start or stop different components (plug-ins). For example if the user has allready an anti-spyware product with realtime protection installed, he can choose to stop the Outpost Firewall realtime protection module, thus not wasting memory and processor clocks. Also, the kernel-based firewall engine has a proactive anti-leak feature called Anti-Leak Control that has proven to be efficient against firewall bypassing techniques. In addition, the operating system is protected against malicious programs in many ways (dll-injection, process manipulation, critical registry modifications and low-level network access to name a few) thus acting like an IPS (intrusion prevention system).

The Entertainment Mode does a good job for the users that don't want to be warned about the product's activity (as the firewalls often do), by minimizing the quantity of prompts and alerts.