Rating: 
Summary: How to configure a firewall...
Review: The only reason I don't give BlackICE a full five stars is because it doesn't offer some of the privacy features of personal firewalls such as Norton Personal Firewall--which provides controls for cookies and ad banners. As some of the reviews have mentioned, during testing some ports were found to be open. This indicates to me these individuals (Steve Gibson included) don't know how to configure the firewall software to achieve the desired level of protection. BlackICE has two features; a firewall for blocking traffic, a intrusion detection system for catching malicious types of traffic. It doesn't contain the application checking that some firewalls do but application checking is easily bypassed by a good backdoor or trojan application. Intrusion detection systems are a little more difficult to bypass. It is possible if you don't have the latest virus software, and you install an unknown application on your machine, that you could have a trojan resident on your computer. Since BlackICE doesn't block outbound traffic the slave software (trojan) would communicate with the master server but the intrusion detection system would most likely catch this and warn you of it. If you want a simple firewall use Tiny Firewall. If you want the benefits of a firewall with an intrusion detection capability choose BlackICE. If you are a home user who is concerned about privacy go for Norton Personal Firewall. And, in all cases, keep your firewall, anti-virus software and anti-virus definitions up-to-date.
Rating:
Summary: Is a firewall really necessary for you?
Review: In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, news reports about the internet becoming a potential "terrorist" target made me concerned that some protection in addition to my anti-virus software might be in order. After some research, I decided that Black Ice Defender would be the preferred product (over Norton and McAfee firewalls). After purchasing and installing it, I no longer believe that users who connect to the internet via a dial-up modem are at any significant risk of having their systems hacked into. In the two weeks since I installed this, most of the probes directed at my connection have been routine ones from my own ISP. If you use a dial-up modem to connect to the internet, RELAX. Save your money or use it to satisfy yourself with some more useful toy.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the money (maybe) - if you can get it for free
Review: BlackIce Defender is, well, adequate as a firewall. That's part of the problem - if you ask the company, you'll discover that that's not the purpose of the program. Instead, it functions more as an intrusion detection system. It is easy to install, and fairly easy to configure, but that's about all it does. It certainly stops low-level attacks, like port 80 scans, but if you get a more involved probe, like a SubSeven probe, BlackIce Defender doesn't block it. Instead, it lets the probe happen, then tells you that someone was looking for something but couldn't find it. That's kind of like having a car alarm that tells you when someone is checking out your car but decided it wasn't worth stealing (okay, it's not a perfect analogy).Sure, you can block specific IP addresses, or allow only certain IP addresses ... but if you want to block every SubSeven probe, for example, you have to wait to be probed, then tell BlackIce not to let that person through again. Small consolation. Also, the interface that displays the most recent attacks is somewhat buggy - it wasn't unusual for me to be paging through attacks, blocking IP addresses who had probed me, when the list would suddenly shrink to the last 20 or 30 addresses. I'd have to flip back to the attacks page, page down a few times, and back to the address page
Rating: 
Summary: black ice defender
Review: I found it very easy to install and use. Within minutes i was alereted to some 'port probes' which were listed in detail. very easy to use just install and forget it!
Rating:
Summary: More for professional types but wonderful product
Review: This isn't for the average person who wants to slap on a firewall and forget about it, but for the person who really wants to know what is going on... I also love NIS; I use them
for different purposes.
Rating:
Summary: reasons not to get black ice and save money...
Review: it slowed my cable service down so much that I am thinking about going back to the good old dial up. It was very hard for me to set up and to keep everyone out as the speeds that I have created took sometime to get to and only one second to slow down. from a 2 meg down load to a 33600 on the rictor scale of slow thats slow.. to tell you all the truth I really wasted $40.00 of hard earned money.. so now when it is not being used it gets turned off and thats it. if you want speed then try something else or just do what I am doing ,,turn the damn thing off.. this red alert thing got everyone so paranoid that they all want to get in side this old beast to see whats up...
Rating:
Summary: BlackIce vs. ZoneAlarmPro
Review: I have tried both and ZoneAlarm wins hands-down. Try it for yourself, put your system through the independent security test found at The fact is BlackIce can't help control what access an application has to the internet. An important plus in ZoneAlarm in an age when many viruses are internet-aware.
Rating:
Summary: Intruder List & Applying Updates
Review: When looking at the intruder list you can see that if you use the right slide bar you can display more info (click on the sidebar until End Of List). Noticing this: when looking at the list of Advanced Firewall Srettings you can determine that the Intruder Name only appears when the entire list of Intruders has been loaded (clicking on the slidebar until End Of List). If you remove the Intruder list there is no name displayed next to your trusted/denied list. You do not know who's IP is who's trusted or denied. Applying Updates: the entire trusted/denied list is wiped out and you have to reenter it thing to do Using the update option available withing the Black Ice Defender program: very difficult. making a copy of this list may not work as I noticed a change made within - it so placing Trusted or denied users in the list may be difficult.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Product
Review: This is the 1st Firewall product I have used, however I did review several others before choosing BlackIce. I purchased this product for home use. The reason I especially like this product is that it logs as much information on the "intruder" as possible for future referance. The installation was very easy (Windows ME), as well as Internet updates. I have experienced no problems or conflicts with any of my computer gaming or my LAN. This product is as important as your your Anti-Virus software and it should always be running if you are online.
Rating:
Summary: Black Ice Defender
Review: This software is excellent, easy too install and simple too use. It went to work for me right away and blocked some attacks from web sites that I thought would have been clean. Recommend for everyone on the Internet.*****
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