just came across Visnetic firewall and was wondering if anyone has ever tried it. and if so what were your thoughts.
also its made by deerfield. that name sounds really familiar, but i cant think of the software that they have made that i used,
also the name to me makes me think of something i didnt like or was a cheap cheezy software. which makes me think the firewall will be the same.
any thoughts anyone ?
Full Version: Visnetic Firewall
I have been using Visnetic for about a year, I'm very satisfied with it. It was briefly called Ambra Firewall and is supposedly based around Conseal Firewall which I loved dearly. I was gutted that Conseal was not XP compatible so was delighted to find out about Ambra/Deerfield/Visnetic Firewall. I am currently using v2.0.7 but have a newer version (2.1.2) waiting to be installed.
Visnetic utilises stateful packet inspection, has no application based side to it but instead concentrates solely on the Rule Based approach. It's very easy set up and use, anybody that ever used Conseal will instantly be comfortable with it. It has no Alert Pop-Ups (which I do occasionally miss) but also includes a basic but very useful Who-Is NS lookup function. You have the ability to ban an IP adress or range of addresses either for a period of time of your choosing or for permanently if you wish. Rules are nice and easy to create and edit with sections for TCP, UDP,ICMP, ARP,RARP and MAC Address rules.
The logging is nice and informative and will not only report blocked and allowed traffic but will also give information as to why packets were blocked...either matching a rule, no rule existing or because the packets had malformerd headers etc. I believe the next major release will include even more detailed logging abilities. It has remote administration facilities, an option to email the administrator when specified rules are hit and all rules can be enabled or disabled with a single mouse click. All the logging appears in a single window no matter which protocol rule has been met or blocked.
You have the usual options of having the Firewall start automatically on boot, ask for confirmation of Firewall shutdown, password protection and whether to block or allow traffic on specific adapters when shut down. I paid 20 UK Pounds for a 1 year "licence" which entitled me to a years free support and any available upgrades. After the year was up I had the option of renewal for another year with further support and upgrades, or continued free use but without support and upgrades. I only needed the support on two occasions and both times my problems were dealt with swiftly, politely and efficiently.
Thus far after 1 year I have no complaints at all and would recommend Visnetic to anyone. It does have a rather steep learning curve and is not at all suitable to people new to computers, firewalls and the internet. However for somebody with a degree of experience it's an excellent piece of kit which I have yet to find bettered elsewhere.
Visnetic utilises stateful packet inspection, has no application based side to it but instead concentrates solely on the Rule Based approach. It's very easy set up and use, anybody that ever used Conseal will instantly be comfortable with it. It has no Alert Pop-Ups (which I do occasionally miss) but also includes a basic but very useful Who-Is NS lookup function. You have the ability to ban an IP adress or range of addresses either for a period of time of your choosing or for permanently if you wish. Rules are nice and easy to create and edit with sections for TCP, UDP,ICMP, ARP,RARP and MAC Address rules.
The logging is nice and informative and will not only report blocked and allowed traffic but will also give information as to why packets were blocked...either matching a rule, no rule existing or because the packets had malformerd headers etc. I believe the next major release will include even more detailed logging abilities. It has remote administration facilities, an option to email the administrator when specified rules are hit and all rules can be enabled or disabled with a single mouse click. All the logging appears in a single window no matter which protocol rule has been met or blocked.
You have the usual options of having the Firewall start automatically on boot, ask for confirmation of Firewall shutdown, password protection and whether to block or allow traffic on specific adapters when shut down. I paid 20 UK Pounds for a 1 year "licence" which entitled me to a years free support and any available upgrades. After the year was up I had the option of renewal for another year with further support and upgrades, or continued free use but without support and upgrades. I only needed the support on two occasions and both times my problems were dealt with swiftly, politely and efficiently.
Thus far after 1 year I have no complaints at all and would recommend Visnetic to anyone. It does have a rather steep learning curve and is not at all suitable to people new to computers, firewalls and the internet. However for somebody with a degree of experience it's an excellent piece of kit which I have yet to find bettered elsewhere.
thanks Busted , it does sound like a very good firewall indeed. 
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