Symantec Scrambles to Fix Firewall Flaws (for Norton users)

InternetNews.com ^ | May 13, 2004 | Ryan Naraine

[JoJo Gunn]

(Apologies to who I've missed)

I backed up all my stuff, did a full wipe and reinstall, and decided to try the free Etrust firewall and AV that came with the MS "security" disc. (Goodbye, DirectX9! sheesh ) I'd like to give you more of a sense of what it is, but I'm a little tired. It passed the stealth test, and it installs and scans, to my senses, at least 3 times faster than Norton. (As of today, you'll get about 1.3 megs of AV updates since the disc was pressed). It has it's quirks, and the layout is something to get adjusted to after almost three years, but it seems stable, the computer restarts and reloads a lot faster too, though admittedly I haven't reloaded everything I usually do yet, like the scanner and printer and a couple of image programs. No clashes with Spybot or AdAware or Spyware Blaster, etc.

Every time you start the system you'll get a box where you'll have to click "continue the trial", but there's a box that confirms I'm good until 05-16-05. I can live with that one click.

Some of you might want to get that MS freebie. Worth the "price", anyway.

I hope I don't have to eat my words tomorrow. :)