McAfee Firewall 3.0

Rating:
Summary: If negative stars were possible..........
Review: Absolutely the worst piece of software I have ever owned... Caused constant system instability, and even the uninstall caused problems... and forget about support from mcafee, you're not going to get it.... save your money and allow all the hackers in the world in, because they are not going to be as damaging as this piece of software.

Rating:
Summary: Cannot log on to DSL server
Review: After installing this I had problems logging on to my DSL provider. It was buggy from the start - I uninstalled this and very disappointed that I wasted my money on this. I couldnt return it so I am stuck with it! :(

Rating:
Summary: This firewall is horrible.
Review: I have used many different varieties of firewall software in the past and I have found this to be one of the worst. Most firewalls that I tried had bugs and/or were lacking key features that are of vital importance for good security. One big problem with McAfee Firewall 3 is that the user is not allowed to create "deny always" port assignments. This means that each time you connect to a website that requests a port that is outside of the normal range you will be asked if you want to allow it. If you say yes, it will always allow communication on that port, regardless of what site is requesting it. This is an utter failure in security because as time goes by, you will have eventually allowed everything -- or face being annoyed by constant pop-up windows asking if you wish to allow communication on port x. Bad news.

Rating:
Summary: A recommendation
Review: I just had a recommendation in case you're interested in buying a firewall software package.

If you do, you should pick the package to be compatible with your anti-virus software, since the two can conflict. Fortunately, that's not hard since both McAfee and Norton make anti-virus and firewall products. There is another popular firewall by Fail-Safe Technologies, ZoneAlarm Pro 2, which I actually like better in some ways than the McAfee Firewall and Norton Personal Firewall offerings, as it has a more intuitive interface and is simpler to work with, but I ultimately had more trouble integrating it with my other software.

So if you're already running McAfee virus software, you should probably go with their McAfee Firewall, and similarly for Norton's Personal Firewall. So whichever one you choose will be dictated by whatever anti-virus software you're already running, since you're likely to already have that installed before a personal firewall application.

I note that the two reviewers here didn't rate the McAfee product very well, but two reviews isn't a very large sample. In that case I would recommend you try McAfee if you already have their anti-virus software, and if that doesn't work, give ZoneAlarm Pro 2 or Norton's Personal Firewall a try at that point. Eventually you should find something that will work okay.

Keep in mind that all firewalls require a certain amount of patience setting up and configuring, even for a home system, since you will have to decide which programs you will allow automatic access to the net and which not, otherwise your firewall will constantly be popping up alarms every time a packet from another system comes in. Fortunately, most of them allow you to set up special rules and to customize the filtering and blocking process to some extent.

Anyway, hope this helps. Good luck with it and happy computing!

Rating:
Summary: Good if not using ICS
Review: I'm sure this would be a good product if it was compatible with Internet Connection Sharing(ICS). Unfortunately, this product doesn't work on the gateway computer with ICS enabled. Only purchase if you don't have a home network.

Rating:
Summary: McAfee Firewall + AOL is a Disaster
Review: If you have AOL and are thinking about purchasing a firewall, I strongly advise against it until McAfee improves its product so it will work with AOL.

When I first attempted to install the product, I was unable to connect to the internet, but was able to connect to AOL. Using a backup computer, I chatted with a tech via live chat. The tech pointed me to the article on the McAfee website on "How to Configure McAfee Firewall 3 for AOL". After much effort, I finally was able to connect to the internet. However, I was still getting messages indicating that something was not right. I used the software, problems and all, for awhile and then decided to try to fix the problem. I uninstalled the firewall and then reinstalled it once again trying very carefully to follow the directions provided by McAfee. After I did this, I was unable to connect to the internet, but still able to connect to AOL. I decided to "junk" the software and uninstalled the firewall. However, after uninsntalling the firewall this time, I still could not connect to the internet. Once again I contacted McAfee via live chat (using backup computer) and was provided with instructions to manually uninstall the firewall. I was informed that there was probably some files left on the computer that related to the firewall, and told that the manual uninstall should take care of the problem. The directions assumed you still had the firewall installed. I asked the tech if that meant I should reinstall it. He said no and to just start where you edit the registry. After following all these instructions to edit the registry, I found that only one file folder relating to the firewall remained in the registry. After deleting it and rebooting, I still was unable to connect to the internet.

At this point I am totally disgusted with the product. Now I can't even connect to the internet with my good computer and I'm still trying to figure out how to correct the problem.

So, if you have AOL and are thinking about purchasing the Firewall 3.0, please take heed and do so at your own risk. I hope this article will prevent others from suffering like I have over the installation of something that should have been "a piece of cake"!

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing product
Review: This firewall caused a lot of troubles to my internet connection. For example, it blocked the renewal of the IP lease from the DHCP server providing regular connection interruiptions. Also its GUI was permanently failing and required complete reinstallation.

I cannot recommend to anybody the purchase of this product.

Rating:
Summary: Firewall and AOL ??? Forget it !!
Review: This product, which was bundled with Mcafee Virus Scan Pro (I have no problems with the virus scan software)does not work with AOL on my machine running Windows ME.
There is a FAQ about this issue in Mcafee's web site, but the instructions in the answer to the FAQ do not correspond with what is actually going on with the computer, hence the information is useless.
I chatted with 4 different techs about this problem. Mcaffee apparently does not give you an e-mail support option. Though it says there is one in the web site, you will not be able to find it. Your only other option is a ridiculous $2.95 per minute phone support option.
Anyhow, I described my problem, and all of the unsucessful fixes, to 4 different techs. I already tried all of their suggestions (the obvious updates, patches, configurations, etc)but nothing works.
To make matters worse, when chatting with the techs, you dont have the option to highlight the text, or print it or save it. Consequently I had to go through ALL of the details to ALL of the techs, EACH time I contacted them. The last 2 techs I spoke with said they would e-mail me a copy of the transactions but they did not.
This has been yet another example of how the computer industry has declined in recent years. You try to be an honest person by purchasing software instead of copying it from someone else. You install the product, the product DOES NOT WORK, and you get NO help from the manufacturer.
I've no choice now but to give up on this product and try another brand.

Rating:
Summary: Waste Software
Review: Waste Software I have ever owned. Caused constant system instability. Cannot even use my internet connection while this software is installed.