14 DAY TRIAL // Last stop today is another shield for protecting your computer, a firewall. Its name is Fireball CyberProtection Suite, the latest version is 2.0 and what I have here is a 15 days trial. The full version's price is 49.95$, and the good news is that the trial doesn't have any limitations as far as I was able to notice. These being said, let's move on to the interesting parts - the interface and features, as usual.
Today may be the 13th, but both tools for protecting your computer that I have here are a real pleasure to look at. Fireball CyberProtection Suite's interface looks very good, can compete with the most handsome interfaces of today and is very easy to use. The main console has seven areas to talk about, and the additional element of the interface is the tiny mini console that can be placed on top of all other windows and used to monitor your network traffic graphs and statistics.
This program is slightly different to all the firewalls I have seen so far, because it didn't stress me at all. The firewall protection can be started and turned off as you wish, as well as all the other tools available here, and since I wrote the magic word, let's see the features of this program, while exploring its interface, as usual.
The Main Console area allows you to check the status of the firewall, intruders stopper, privacy filter, view the Network Monitor's traffic graph or start one of the Scan, VPN and Profiles tools.
The Firewall screen is well featured and very easy to use, its areas being the Monitor, Settings, Basic, Applications and Expert. I have to tell you a little more here, because you can use two modes of this firewall. The first one is Basic+Applications, and the second is called Expert. Obviously, the first mode targets beginners and the last one allows advanced users to carefully configure each application's access rights.
The Intruders module allows you to protect your computer from Denial of Service attacks, Scans, HTTP attacks, buffer overflows, Trojan horses and also other unknown suspicious activity.
The Privacy filter allows you to filter incoming email messages, deny access to gambling and adult websites, enable real time cookie protection, block JavaScript ads and restrict FTP transfers. I am sure that all these take Fireball CyberProtection Suite higher than most firewalls around, and this is a great thing to know, but the price has to rise a little too because of that...
At last, the Scan tool checks to see if your Windows XP has all the latest updates applied and also if your Internet Explorer version is the latest one available, so you're protected as good as possible against various flaws and bugs found in older versions. The VPN allows you to create virtual networks for private communication with remote computers, while the Profiles help you create different access rights setups that can be loaded as needed (while your kids shouldn't access adult sites, nobody says you shouldn't...).
Excellent! It was a real pleasure to review this program, but the fun is over now, so let's move on to the conclusions!
The Good
Fireball CyberProtection Suite is more than just a firewall, and its ease of use, looks, features and customization possibilities make it a worthy candidate for my "favorite firewall" prize! If you're a beginner, don't be afraid of it, because the excellent built- in Help file will help you discover all of this program's features in no time.
The Bad
Being such a complex program, Fireball CyberProtection Suite can scare some beginners, and its price is not that low either...
The Truth
Ladies and gentlemen, if this program didn't get enough attention so far, I hope it's going to become as popular as it deserves, and if my review today helps that goal to become reality, then my mission is fulfilled. Need I say more? Download it and let its protective aura surround your computer as soon as possible!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
