PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition 1.0.0.10

• Quick specs
• Price: Free
• Operating system: Windows XP, Windows 2000
• Date added: January 10, 2007
• Total Downloads: 1,021,246
• Downloads last week: 5,009
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• Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 372 votes
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User reviews of PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition 1.0.0.10

• Average user rating: 3.1 stars out of 372 votes
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• 2 stars

  20 out of 35 people found this review helpful

  Version: PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition 1.0.0.10

  "This firewall has major flaws!"

  by ma-da-lin on February 26, 2007

  Pros: I was the king of the fooled people...

  One month ago I wrote a review about this product. The name of my review was "Excellent firewall for beginners".

  Big.Daddy.1124 reviewer was the first to discover I was wrong. Thank you Big.Daddy.1124 for pointing me in the right direction! I have contacted download.com in order to repair that mistake ... and here there is my new review, more accurate and more closer to the truth. I hope this will be a light in the dark for all of you, people fooled by this firewall (I was on that list too)!

  So, let's take a closer look to this product... again:

  - Indeed, it is very easy to install and use.

  - The interface is nice and clean.

  - It is very low on resources.

  - Is as free as they say.

  - The firewall did pass all of the SIMPLE intrusion tests (as almost any other firewall can do).

  BUT...

  Cons: ... let's run this firewall to a couple of more advanced tests. And here comes the big surprise:

  TEST 1 -> pcAudit

  PCAudit uses DLL injection to inject it's code (as a DLL) into authorized application instead of launching it's aim directly.

  ==The firewall FAILED this test==

  The PCAudit tool was able to send private data into my yahoo.com email!!!

  TEST 2 -> DNSTest

  By default on NT OSs, a Windows service 'DNS client' handles all DNS requests. This behaviour can be used to transmit data to a remote computer by crafting a special DNS request without the firewalls notice it.

  ==The firewall FAILED this test==

  TEST 3 -> Jumper

  Instead of modifying the target process memory, Jumper is making the target to load by itself the foreign DLL. To do so, it writes to the 'AppInit_DLLs' registry entry, it then kills explorer.exe which is reloaded automatically by Windows.

  ==The firewall FAILED this test==

  TEST 4 -> Thermite

  Thermite, unlike other leaktest that injects it's code into another processes via DLL, injects it's code into the target process directly, by creating an additional malicious thread within that process.

  ==The firewall FAILED this test==

  TEST 5 -> Atelier Web Firewall Tester

  ==The firewall FAILED 5 from 6 tests!==

  TEST 6 -> pcaudit2

  The firewall failed this test and was able to catch data typed into word, excel and notepad, and send this data to my yahoo mail!!!

  TEST 7 -> Breakout

  Breakout sends to the IE's address bar the URL to launch, via the 'SendMessage' Windows API. No code is injected but your desktop background can be replaced by a web page for example. Run this tool with caution :) You may have to restore your desktop background via Display->Properties... because the firewall will FAIL this test also...

  No more to say...

  Once again thank's to Big.Daddy.1124 for showing me the truth.

  You can find the tools I am talking about on google :) or on firewallleaktester com website.

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• 4 stars

  8 out of 11 people found this review helpful

  Version: PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition 1.0.0.10

  "good for free"

  by bry27 on March 4, 2007

  Pros: What can I say it's free. For now. Pretty good firewall. So far so good.

  Cons: Not quite as smart as Norton or Windows Firewall. Blocked my own computer on my wifi, was very confused until I figured it out.

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• 5 stars

  39 out of 58 people found this review helpful

  Version: PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition 1.0.0.10

  "Excellent firewall"

  by Sammo- on January 12, 2007

  Pros: I was initially skeptical of yet another firewall program, but after trying out PC Tools Firewall Plus I am impressed. It is much more robust that ZoneAlarm or Comodo and passed the leak tests from Gibson Research and the Comodo site. It also takes up quite a bit less system resources and is easy to configure. 5 stars.

  Cons: None.

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• 4 stars

  33 out of 56 people found this review helpful

  Version: PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition 1.0.0.10

  "Worth trying!!"

  by heavygear3 on February 9, 2007

  Pros: Simple and nice interface...easy to understand for comp newbies...doesnt slow down my comp..has that little icon at the taskbar to show u incoming and outgoing traffic (like ZA)

  Cons: Dont expect too much from it though it only offers basic firewall protection. You cant change and tweak much stuff...besides the application control

  When I clicked on Smart Update, it says, " getting lists of updates..." and then disappear within a sec. Users wont know whether they has received the update..other than that i recommend u trying it but not using it as ur permenant firewall =)

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• 5 stars

  39 out of 71 people found this review helpful

  Version: PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition 1.0.0.10

  "Simple but Powerful Firewall"

  by Reborn master on January 21, 2007

  Pros: Easy to use, even for beginners.Blocks hackers and intrusions.Easy to configure. No bugs no problems.Most of all it's free.

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