Freeware Tools: PC Tools Firewall Plus 7.0.0

PC Tools Firewall Plus sits between your computer and your Internet connection, controlling both downloading and uploading traffic and warning you whenever it detects unexpected Internet access or traffic in either direction. PC Tools Firewall Plus is surprisingly easy to use; you can start right away, without having to configure anything, something that beginners will be grateful for. These novice users will also be happy to see that the basic functionality of PC Tools Firewall Plus can be tweaked in terms of approved or blocked programs.

It's best to have a security application installed when having to work with an active Internet connection. One such tool is PC Tools Firewall Plus, a comprehensive software solution for identifying and eliminating malware, while giving you the possibility of managing network access for open applications.

The GUI consists of a single window organized into six main areas, namely “Status”, “Applications”, “Profiles”, “History”, “Activity” and “Settings”.

The first panel gives you an overview on the product version, updates, sent and received data. Plus, you can quickly toggle firewall protection mode.

PC Tools Firewall Plus also lets you create and organize advanced firewall rules for individual profiles; you can set up connections with overriding ports, along with a trusted IP list.

In addition, it is possible to view current network traffic and firewall activity (sent and received bytes for each active application). PC Tools Firewall Plus records everything to a history panel, and you can export logs to a CSV file for further scrutiny.

Plenty of settings may be configured for this utility. For instance, you can adjust firewall security mode, show traffic information in a tray icon, modify network settings, as well as enable password protection and full screen detection.

To sum it up, PC Tools Firewall Plus offers multilingual support, has a good response time and runs on a surprisingly low amount of CPU and RAM.