Symantec Norton Personal Firewall 2003

Norton has been a trusted name in antivirus protection for decades and, after buying out the company from Mr Norton, Symantec has managed to keep the good reputation going with constant updates to its core antivirus products.

Naturally, Symantec has also extended the brand into firewall products, and Personal Firewall 2003 is the latest edition to the range.

Right from the outset Norton offers lots of hand-holding, which is ideal for the novice user yet quick enough for the more experienced not to get frustrated.

The install is straightforward, and once you've entered your registration details you'll be asked to reboot.

When Windows restarts, a set-up screen guides you through the various settings allowing you to customise the software for your set up.

If you're running a network at home then Norton sets up two zones: one covering trusted communication between computers on your internal network, and another more restricted zone for communications with computers on the internet.

It's very straightforward and easy to follow. Next Norton scans your computer for programs that commonly access the internet.

This is to stop the firewall from throwing up annoying messages about software, such as browsers that need to access the internet in order to be able to do anything.

It then presents you with a list of software so you can pick those that want to be allowed to freely access the internet, and those that you want to exercise more control over.

Next up is the privacy control. Here you can enter private data that you don't want to end up being sent over the net.

Norton monitors data that is to be sent over the internet, and if any of it contains the personal information you have specified then it will be blocked.

Sensibly, after the firewall has been set-up, an automatic update applet is run to download any fixes or security updates that may have been created since you purchased the software.

After these updates are installed, the machine reboots and you'll find Personal Firewall nestled in the system tray.

If you need to change any settings after carrying out the original configuration, you'll find that the interface is very similar to Norton's Anti-Virus product.

All the different options are sensibly laid out and you can tell at a glance what's being blocked and what's not.

Norton passed both the Shields Up test and the Leaktest without any problems, and we were also impressed that it was able to block personal data such as an address from being sent over the internet via web browser, instant messaging client or email message.

Contact: Symantec 0207 616 5600
www.symantec.com

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Windows XP, 2000 Pro, ME and 98
• 150MHz Pentium processor or higher
• 48MB of Ram
• CD-Rom drive
• 25MB of available disk space