F-Secure Internet Security Suite -Firewall (Internet Shield).

The Internet Shield or Firewall by F-Secure offers complete control over incoming and outgoing data packets. You have total control over Port and Application level.

Rules (Ports) level Control.

With the rules level control you can create rules which allow you to "deny" or "allow" access to certain services or networks.

The Firewall also offers Intrusion Prevention - allowing you to block and log any attempt of hackers getting into your system.

Lets do a couple of examples to see the security features and the power of F-Secure's Firewall.

In this example we are going to allow outbound access to a selected application and for that application on inbound access we want the firewall to prompt (inform us) on the inbound request.

Rules Level Control.

In this example we are going to create a rule that is going to "deny" access to a complete domain on the internet. We are also want to be informed if an attempt to that domain is made.

F-Secure Internet Security Suite - Firewall Application Control.

In this example we are going to allow outbound access to a selected application and for that application on inbound access we want the firewall to prompt (inform us) on the inbound request.

We are going to add the application Microsoft OutLook Express but of course you can use any application.

Remember. The most restrictive rules apply. This means that if you are allowing an application to access the internet, but you have also created a rule that will "deny" a connection to a specific port and if that application makes use of the port which you denied, the application will not have access to the internet. For most of us, we will be using the "Application Control" to control application internet access. The Firewall "Rules" is mainly for semi advanced to advanced uses.

Ok, lets add Microsoft Outlook express.

Open F-Secure Security Suite and click on the Internet Shield Tab as seen below.

Now where it says "Firewall" click on the "Configure..." text to open the Firewall dialog box. Then on the left hand side (tree) click on "Application Control" as seen below.

As you can see currently I have 3 applications which are allowed to access internet resources. What I want to do now is add Microsoft OutLook Express to this list so I can access my Hotmail account.

Click "Add..." to add OutLook Express application. (Remember this could be any application). The "Applications Properties" dialog box is presented as seen below.

Click "Browse..." and browse to the folder of OutLook Express (default installation path is "C:\Program Files\Outlook Express") and click on the Outlook Express exe (msimn.exe). We also want to "allow" outbound access and we want the firewall to prompt us for inbound access.  So where it says, "Outbound (client connection)" click on "Allow" and where it says "Inbound (server connection)" click prompt as seen below. Click "OK".

You can now see that the application has been added to the application list.