Sunbelt Software has recently renamed their Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall to be Sunbelt Personal Firewall. It’s their personal computer firewall software package. SPF is available in full-function mode (paid license) and in a reduced-function free (licensed free for personal non-commercial use) versions. Actually, it is the same program — after the full-function 30-day trial, you can purchase a license key to reactivate the additional functions or if you don’t qualify for the free license.
Sunbelt purchased the existing, respected firewall program Personal Firewall from Kerio in December 2005.
Sunbelt has reduced the price significantly, too. Sunbelt Personal Firewall is only $19.95, which includes 1 year of upgrades, as opposed to the usual $40 for firewall programs. Sunbelt’s web site shows that upgrade subscriptions will be priced at $9.95 per year.
Since I have already registered my copy, I know that the License and the Upgrade Subscriptions are two different things. My license expires “Never,” while my upgrade subscription expires next February.
First, what do you miss with the “free” version?
- * It is licensed for personal and/or non-commercial use only.
- * Web content filtering is not available in the free version
- * The powerful Host Intrusion and Prevention System (HIPS) is not available in the free version
- * It can not be used on a computer that is providing the “Internet Connection Sharing” functions for your local network (the “Internet gateway” computer). It will block the ICS data packets, since they are not destined for this computer)
- * Logs can not be sent to the Windows “Syslog” server.
- * You can not password-protect your firewall configuration, and
- * You can not access and administer the firewall remotely.
I am currently using Sunbelt Personal Firewall on all my family’s computers as well as on my notebook (my primary computer) and I am impressed. When you install SPF, you can choose between the “simple” and “advanced user” installations. Even if you’re an advanced user, pick the “simple” installation…
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