Cheap Norton Personal Firewall 2.0 (Software) (Mac OS 9 and below) Price

Once you install the software, Norton sets the default settings so that nothing can get in, but you can get out. That means you can still surf the Web, check your POP e-mail accounts, telnet to another machine while the firewall is running--but the less scrupulous denizens of the Internet can't do the same to your little Macintosh. To allow any access, you have to specifically make the choice within the settings. Note: there are no significant changes for Mac OS 8.1. to 9.x users in this release; only OS X users are able to download via FTP without turning the firewall off.

What if you have friends who you want to share your latest MP3 compositions with? Norton Personal Firewall 2.0 allows you to customize your access, designating friendly computers that can always access your machine, and identify others that are always banned. It also provides user-friendly logging, so that you can see the IP addresses of the people scanning your machine for weaknesses, the type of connection they attempted, and whether they got in or not. (A 10-day trial version of Who's There Firewall Advisor is also included, to help you further sift through the data your logs provide.)

Norton Personal Firewall 2.0 fared very well against the Internet-based hacker/port scan simulator ShieldsUP! in its default setting, repelling all automated attempts to open up a connection. Users running OS X 10.1 have access to Symantec's own security Web site (which can run a test for you); earlier OS users type in the IP address of another computer that will be the "attacker" to check the security settings. OS X 10.1 users are also able to set the software to "stealth mode"--whereby hacking computers get no indication that their attempts even reached your address (the usual default is "closed"--the hacker understands that they've been denied access through one doorway but the nature of the response shows them that a doorway exists.)

Computer security can be confusing, and perhaps one of the best features about Norton Personal Firewall 2.0 is its Help system, which uses clear language and diagrams to explain the nuances of how to protect your computer. Overall, Norton Personal Firewall 2.0 makes a strong addition to a savvy Mac user's Internet arsenal. --Elizabeth Aoki