What's New in Outpost Firewall PRO 4.0 |
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The Ultimate in Proactive Protection
Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 brings you the ultimate in electronic information protection. With Outpost 4.0, you get the highest level of proactive protection against Internet-borne spyware, keyloggers, Trojans and other unauthorized attempts to access the data on your PC — even if you're running 64-bit Windows.
Let's take a closer look at what's new.
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Information leak prevention technology that really works |
Leak tests measure a firewall's effectiveness in preventing personal information from leaking through outbound filters. Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 is able to block all known existing techniques to steal confidential data from your PC via unauthorized channels such as spyware. You can read the complete results of Outpost 4.0 vs leak tests.
Here's a summary of leak test improvements in Outpost 4.0:
Number of leak tests passed
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Outpost Firewall PRO 4.0
Outpost Firewall PRO 3.5
Windows Firewall |
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Customizable prevention of unauthorized attempts to control trusted applications
Customize the list of applications you trust to make outbound data transfers. This function prevents stealthy access attempts by malicious applications masquerading as legitimate applications.
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Block the use of command line parameters to launch a browser
Many applications can be configured to launch browser windows when you click on a URL (Outlook, Microsoft Office, ICQ and many others). To avoid unwanted browser launches by malicious programs, you can create your own list of programs allowed to open browser windows.
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Customizable control over application memory
Use your customized list of trusted applications to ensure malicious programs can't use the memory space of a trusted application to execute their payload.
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Active Desktop control
Active Desktop components may contain malicious code that can transfer confidential data on behalf of Windows Explorer. Outpost prevents this kind of malicious code from installing or executing.
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Prevent attempts to control other applications' windows
Malicious programs can emulate keystrokes in other program windows and make unauthorized data transfers between those windows. Outpost detects these attempts, checks for legitimacy and blocks any unauthorized attempts to transfer data.
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Prevent attempts to modify critical registry entries
The registry contains the configuration settings for all programs. Outpost 4.0 lets you customize the list of applications allowed to make changes to the registry.
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Double DNS resolution control
Outpost 4.0 prevents the use of advanced hacking techniques that could allow intruders to steal data through DNS requests.
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Low-level network access control
Malicious code, once installed on your system, may attempt to mimic normal system activity and initiate outbound connections. Outpost detects such attempts and alerts you with a prompt for next action.
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360-degree protection against spyware |
Agnitum's engineers have significantly increased the level of protection against spyware. Here's how Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 is now even more effective in monitoring, detecting and removing both known and unknown spyware:
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Improved system performance
Outpost 4.0 uses a new method of comparing programs with the spyware database that significantly increases scan speed.
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Additional protection through "scan before execute" option
Outpost simulates the execution of every application in a closed 'sandbox' and tests it for legitimacy before allowing or blocking its actual execution. System performance is unaffected.
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New spyware signature analyzer
Spyware detection algorithms that are even more accurate increase your protection against known and unknown malware.
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Self-protection |
Outpost Firewall Pro now includes a self-protection mode that acts as a defense shield around the program to prevent the firewall from being deactivated by viruses, Trojans or spyware. Even attempts to shut down the firewall by simulating keystrokes are detected and stopped. Outpost continuously monitors its own files on the hard drive, as well as registry entries, memory status and running services, and blocks any attempted changes by malicious applications. You can turn this self-protection mode off and on to permit the installation of new plug-ins and other configuration adjustments.
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An improved ImproveNet |
ImproveNet was introduced in an earlier version of Outpost Firewall Pro as a means of making Outpost easier to use and providing additional security. It works by collecting, testing and redistributing commonly used rule sets to Outpost users.
In Outpost 4.0, ImproveNet now gathers information at the local PC level about how programs interact, providing a new level of security over local processes. These new local rules are automatically updated and distributed to ImproveNet subscribers to fine-tune the differentiation between safe and unsafe activities.
ImproveNet 3.5
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figure 1 |
Figure 1 above shows how ImproveNet worked in Outpost 3.5, covering rules governing inbound and outbound traffic connections.
ImproveNet 4.0
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figure 2 |
Figure 2 above shows how ImproveNet now provides rule sets for application interaction at the local level in Outpost 4.0.
Learn more about ImproveNet 4.0:
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Improved usability |
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Entertainment mode
When you're focused on playing games or watching a movie online, you don't want to be interrupted by requests from your firewall to make a decision about allowing or rejecting a particular connection. So Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 provides an "Entertainment Mode" that suppresses firewall pop-up messages when specific programs (the list is customizable) are running. Switching to entertainment mode does not affect the security level of the firewall.
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For advanced users: adaptive firewall rules
Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0 includes macro definitions for applications, which enable you to manually define security rules for individual applications and Windows-based services. For example, you can now choose to limit DNS requests to the list of DNS services built into the network adaptor. If DNS is trying to reach an unlisted DNS server, you will be prompted to allow or block this action.
In conclusion
With the release of Outpost Firewall Pro 4.0, you can experience the full benefits of Ultimate Proactive Protection without sacrificing usability — all in a single, proven personal firewall that doesn't cost the earth. Outpost Firewall Pro supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.
Version 4.0 Upgrade Instructions
Registered users of Outpost Firewall PRO (1.0/2.1/2.5/2.6/2.7/3.0/3.5/3.51):
New users:
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