Re: Password vault software

"Ed" wrote in message news:q%Fxi.57$JD.27@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So are you saying that you have never heard of personal software firewalls? If not, time to get one. Get one with outbound control, like application rules. Then you can decide which applications can make Internet connections and which cannot.

Comodo's firewall is top-rated amongst the free personal firewalls.


Thanks. I use a Netgear FM114P firewall router so I assume that
a software firewall would be redundant. I'll take a look at it and
see if I can disallow particular programs for Internet access.

Firewalls in a personal router cannot provide application rules. That's because the application (and its processes) aren't running on the router. Router firewalls can provide some outbound control, like on protocols, IP or MAC addresses, time of day, IP name/address censoring, etc. They don't know what application generated what traffic that is going out through them.

If you want to control which applications can connect OUT from the host on which they execute, get a software firewall that runs on THAT same host. Very nasty malware can circumvent firewalls but you aren't talking about malware.

Didn't find an "FM114P" listed at netgear.com but did find "FR114P". They mention "Network Software (e.g. Windows)". Is that a software firewall that runs on each intranet host? Or is that just some local app to provide a web-based interface to their router device? I saw no mention of app rules (or inclusion of IPS to control what process can call what program to make the connection). I did a very cursory scan of the manual at ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/FR114P_FR114W_FM114P_RefGuide.pdf but still saw nothing to control which applications (and their caller processes) would be allowed a network connection, to what target sites, for which ports, and for what protocols.

For example, with your Netgear router, how would you prevent the wgatray.exe program from connecting to Microsoft when you start Windows? (I actually stop it from loading by using an IPS, like System Safety Monitor, but used to block its connection attempt in the Comodo firewall.)




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