In RJK had this to say:
My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Well ! that was a horrible, and time consuming experience - I thought
I'd give Kaspersky Internet Security Suite a trial and it blocked my
pop3 ...and no amount of digging and tweaking, (several reboots after
several tweaks/uninstalls/reinstalls) would unblock it). ..thank
goodness I made a restore point after uninstalling my usual suite
prior to installing Kaspersky ?
...anyone else had email problems with Kaspersky ?
...yeah, yeah, yeah ...email Kaspersky !
regards, Richard
Actually it's a long post to make but I'll try to make it short.
Kaspersky's firewall-esque product isn't that bad, its got some strong
points and some weak points. You could say I'm familiar with the product
type and the company involved. Anyhow...
All software firewalls (and all hardware firewalls but I've found hardware
appliances are actually easier to configure once you get to the point where
you understand their interface) tend to run in a rules mode. This is a mode
where you have things popup, annoy you, get blocked, etc etc etc.
The goal of this mode is not to leave it there but rather to use it to fine
tune your settings until the firewalls settings match YOUR needs. Each and
every single person on the planet is going to have different needs. You need
to make it match your needs and it is not always a quick or easy process but
it is generally about the same time with any product you decide to use. It
is just a matter of learning to configure it.
Once you have the basics learned, you have it configured so that your needs
are being met, you can generally change the mode to something like "block
most" which will then block anything other then those things you've set
rules to specifically allow. That's when you've done a good job configuring
your firewall to suit your needs. Security is a process and not an
application and what suits your needs isn't the same as will suit another
persons but rather your security is you deciding what is and isn't safe for
you to do, what matters most to you, and what you're willing to risk to
accomplish those goals. There's no such thing as 100% secure - if the PC can
be turned on there's risks of it being broken into, even if the break-in is
physical.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you're typical suite installs and
doesn't give you any problems then chances are it really isn't doing a very
good job at giving you the security you are hoping for. When you first
install them or mount one into the rack at the edge of your network - the
reality is that it's going to suck. You'll have prompts, blocked
applications, and misconfigured settings. It will stay that way for a
while - I say 4 to 6 weeks before you put it into a block most mode - until
it suits your own particular needs.
--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/
"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and
its solution is its own reward." - Sherlock Holmes
