Customer Reviews

BlackICE PC Protection

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I must say that this is a great intrusion and informative tool, but please do NOT confuse this program with a firewall.

The intent of this program is to explain attacks or attempts on your pc. This is especially good for admins at small businesses and such.

The difference between this and a firewall, such as Zonealarm for example, is that the firewall BLOCKS all incoming connections that are NOT AUTHORIZED, regardless of the content. This program is content based, analyzing data, leaving it vulnerable to some malicious attacks.Zone alarm is a great firewall, but its logging abilities pale in compaison to BlackICE. THat is why the ideal situation has you running BlackICE and a firewall.

The ideal use of such a program is paired with a firewall.

I do not mean to put this program down at all. It is a fine program, and is a great add on for less technical individuals or even higher ones who need need to catalogue/review attacks on their pc/server at a moments notice.

Fine software in my opinion.

I've used Blackice for a long time and I'm very satisfied. So many people get confused with the older versions of this software and the latest (3.6) and say that it can't filter outbound traffic. The latest version does do this very well. I've tried every internet firewall test i could find and blackice passed all of them 100%, including gibson research corporation's shields up! and leaktest. I did have to manually tweak the config file to get the thing to block ICMP pings, but it was easy. I especially like the interface, which is straightforward and doesn't use any flashy graphics to look good, it's just a piece of software that sits there and does its job.

I have tried many anti-Virus programs, and with the proliferation of "Hackers: and other undesirables on the Internet, I wanted something that really worked.

Black Ice is the answer, you can set the level of protection you want, you get a history of attempts to get into your computer, and it is an all around good program.

It is not an anti-Virus, it is a intrusion protector, the people who sent you the spam never know what happened to the message they sent to you it just disappears. Something hard to find today a product that does what it says it will do.

I've owned and used BlackIce for over 7 years now. In all it's upgrades, it has been a non-intrusive, easy to use and effective software product.
The honest truth about this software is: It does a fantastic job of logging internet intrusions and STOPPING them. There is no combination of intrusion attempts that can get past this product and I've tried over the years. The interface is easy to understand and quite minimal for a product of such stature. It also boasts an effective internal application protection feature, which I don't really use (because my computer isn't full of trojan, virus, or otherwise and I never install what I don't know). Of all the other reviews below, the reviewer from Petaluma, Ca is the honest and accurate one. My experiences with the product are similar to his experiences. Be warned that some people who like the FREE ZoneAlarm, make reviews for Blackice which simply are not true. There are security reviews, you can find on the internet, which fully test Blackice and find it's a very solid and strong product which has no equal.

Save yourself a lot of headaches and look for other software packages to secure your computer. BlackICE is the worst software I have ever purchased: buggy, horrible support, unusable. I have tried similar packages and this one ranks at the bottom of the list. The system crashes continually and I usually needed to re-install at a minimum of once per week. I did some checking after the fact and found others who had similar experiences; unfortunatly I didn't check before I bought the software in the first place. Save your money and find something else.

I had Mcafee security suite, FREE, through my comcast provider.

I used Black ice years ago and thought I would try it again, after seeing a review on it.

Problem 1:
Brand new retail box, bought online on an auction site.
Seals intact. Not even a hint of anyone ever opening the box.

During setup, installer says this product has EXPIRED.
Time to renew. ?????????

Emailed tech support and they sent me a new download link, to get a newer version (V3.6)AND they provided a new serial number/key to use during setup.
I got everything installed okay.

Problem 2:
Mcafee's firewall from Comcast, had showed several breakin attempts from the Far East.
But, it thwarted them.

Black ice is set up in the highest security mode, PARANOID.
However,it appears that stuff is actually getting through now and Mcafee's anti-virus has alerted me to several trojans and worms being detected and deleted.

Problem 3: Glad I got this for only 10 or 12 bucks (thru an auction site). I would be really upset if I had paid full price and then find out my pc is vulnerable, due to what appears to be a crapola firewall.

Over the years, I've used firewalls from:
mcafee
norton
zone alarm
webroot
tiny
Vcom
and a few others.

Never have I seen so many things slip through, to the point where I have to rely on my anti-virus program to stop/delete these unwelcome "pests".

This bites.

I'm going back to mcafee's firewall. At least with mcafee, the components worked as a team and the firewall blocked stuff and the anti-virus did it's own thing.

With blackice, it looks like the firewall took a siesta and left the door open; letting the anti-virus to "hopefully" catch/stop any intruders.

I'm not a "happy camper".

Just my 02 cents on this program.

This Software is not worth the money or the trouble. I had problems since day one when I installed this piece of junk. My start up programs would not load when the application protection feature is on. Even talking to the support people still haven't got the damn software to work the way is suppose to. Piece of advice. Do not purchase this piece of junk. Stick to Symantec there are far better with their software than what this people is. This BlackIce piece of junk it ain't worth the time or the money. This is the worst software I ever bought.

I recently purchased this product. It did not function. repeated e-mails to the manufacturer got no response. Purchase at your own risk.

I couldn't install it simply because it promised me in the ad on Amazon that it would work with Windows 95, which hardly anything else will do. But when it arrived I found it was really for Window 98 -- not 95 - so I had no choice but to return it.
Now I am upgraded to Wincows 98 (ta-dah!) and I wonder if I should spend more money buying it again? It's time wasting and discouraging to be led to think you've bought the right product and then find you haven't.

The product actually has many excelent features that will make it come out of the crowd