Intego NetBarrier X4 Compared to Apple’s Leopard Firewall

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard includes a firewall, which claims to “prevent unwanted connections from the Internet or other networks.” But a personal firewall should do more than just block connections by application, as the Leopard firewall does. The following is a comparison between Intego NetBarrier X4 and the Leopard firewall, showing why Intego NetBarrier X4 is far superior to Apple’s integrated solution.

• NetBarrier works on Mac OS X Jaguar, Panther, Tiger and Leopard (10.2.8 or later). Apple’s firewall only runs on Leopard (though Mac OS X 10.4, Tiger, had a different kind of firewall, which was difficult to configure).
• NetBarrier works on Mac computers with a PowerPC G3 processor or better, and is a Universal application, running native on PowerPC- or Intel-based Macs. Apple’s firewall only runs on Leopard-compatible Macs, which have G4 processors at 867 MHz or faster.
• NetBarrier offers preset configurations for the most common network usages. Apple’s firewall offers no preset configurations, other than “off” and “allow only essential services.”
• NetBarrier can have different settings for different locations, such as at home, at the office, or on the road. Apple’s firewall settings apply to all locations.
• NetBarrier can block network traffic by source, destination, service, port and interface. Apple’s firewall only blocks traffic by application.
• NetBarrier records detailed logs of all incoming and outgoing network traffic. Apple’s firewall offers only limited logging.
• NetBarrier offers a powerful Antivandal feature to block a variety of network attacks, such as ping floods, port scans and intrusion attempts. Apple’s firewall has no such feature.
• NetBarrier protects against Trojan horses and buffer overflow attacks. Apple’s firewall has no such feature.
• NetBarrier has powerful anti-spyware protection to keep users safe from spyware, and to alert them about applications that “phone home.” Apple’s firewall has no such feature.
• NetBarrier has a stop list, which blocks hostile computers, and a trusted group, which ensures that friendly computers never get blocked. Apple’s firewall has no such feature.
• NetBarrier has a data filter, which lets users protect specific sensitive data, such as credit card numbers. Apple’s firewall has no such feature.
• NetBarrier has a surf filter, which lets users control cookies, and a banner filter, which hides web ads. Apple’s firewall has no such feature.
• NetBarrier has a cookie editor, which allows users to manage and edit cookies. Apple’s firewall has no such feature.
• NetBarrier has powerful traffic monitoring tools. Apple’s firewall has no such feature.
• NetBarrier includes a NetBarrier Monitor application, so users can monitor traffic when the NetBarrier program is not running, as well as a traffic monitor screen saver. Apple’s firewall has no such feature.