I’m a big fan personally of our Kerio firewall, so I’m sorry, I have to do this every once in a while: A shameless act of self-aggrandizement. Think of it as a “proud parent” kind of thing.
Yesterday, we got an email from a user in responce to an email we sent her, that sums up many reasons why I think it’s so great (she gave us permission to reprint).
Fear not, you’ll have a paid software user for your Kerio Personal Firewall before my 30 day trial expires. With much trepidation and concern, I replaced my argumentative, ever-cantankerous Zone Alarm Pro Firewall with a trial of Kerio 3 weeks ago. I say “much trepidation and concern” because all of my sole proprietorship business, banking, credit card merchant account and of course the ever-effusive PayPal premiere business account, is tied up online – EVERYTHING related to my business, except for the actual artwork I create in my studio, is handled online.
So, while Zone Alarm Pro caused mega-problems I used it and put up with its annoying tendencies. Several times, if not even more, per DAY I’d have annoying hang-ups with ZAP where it would freeze and refuse to allow any access to web pages, even my own, as well as halting incoming and outgoing email. Sometimes, I could alleviate the problem by turning ZAP off and immediately reactivating it within seconds, but at other times, trying this annoying “fix” would cause my system to freeze and crash, necessitating a complete, “cold” reboot. I spent hours and hours on the phone with ZAP tech support through my broadband cable provider, who initially provided my latest version of ZAP – it’d be an hour on the phone with my provider, then the transfer to CA for direct ZAP tech support for at least 3-4 more hours on the phone, installing and uninstalling and going through all the paces to try to alleviate this annoying, all-too-frequently-occurring freeze-up problem with ZAP. The problem was NEVER totally rectified, but we’d get it down to only turning ZAP on/off a few times in a 24 hour period and I’d live with it for the firewall protection.
However, the last time the web and email access “freeze-ups” started with MUCH greater frequency daily, I didn’t bother calling tech support.
Every hour I spend on the phone with tech support with problematic software is an hour I’m NOT down in my studio creating the artwork which pays my bills, frankly. So I started reading software Firewall reviews across the board and finally stumbled across Kerio. For years and years I’ve never used anything but first, Norton’s Firewall, then for many years up until Kerio, Zone Alarm Pro. So I’m sure you can appreciate that switching to a new firewall program I couldn’t find any review information on for the “premium” (that is, the paid, registered version) left me rather leery of taking it for a spin at risk of exposing my business to potential hacking.
I installed Kerio’s Personal Firewall and it seemed far too easy, so I called your tech support, just to be sure since I can’t afford to be hacked.
I was never on hold more than a single minute, either getting through initially or when I was transferred to tech support, which I found quite impressive, actually. Over the last 21 days, I’ve yet to have Kerio hang my system or block my access to the regular web pages I need to access for my business. It just does its job, quietly in the background without so much as a single system lock-up.
As soon as I installed Kerio (I disabled ZAP, being leery of totally uninstalling the very problematic firewall until I had sufficient peace of mind that Kerio would do the job and, along with my paid Spyware Doctor and SpySweeper anti-spyware software packages, effectively protect my system), I put the firewall through the paces. I had all of the online leak tests run and Kerio passed flawlessly. I then headed over to Symantec’s web site and granted Symantec permission to attempt a benign hack of my system. Again, Kerio passed flawlessly, preventing all attempts by the “white hats” to hack in.
Okay, so why haven’t I become a paid user of Kerio’s Personal Firewall yet?
I downloaded your CounterSpy anti-spyware software to take it for a spin as well. I am already running two top-rated anti-spyware programs, both of which I very recently paid my annual renewal fees for, so I’ve been debating whether to just register Kerio’s Personal Firewall or whether to add a third anti-spyware software and, thus, register both Kerio’s Firewall and CounterSpy (as you know, I’m sure, no one anti-spyware program gets all of the potential malicious Trojans, keyboard loggers, etc.). There’s the only reason for my paid registration delay during Kerio’s 30 day firewall trial.
Since CounterSpy cohabits quite peacefully with my Spyware Doctor and SpySweeper anti-malware programs, I think I’ve just about persuaded myself to register both Kerio firewall and CounterSpy together as a package …
but, I still have a few days to ponder it over.
All of the above notwithstanding, rest assured that at the very least, my trial version of Kerio Personal Firewall WILL be registered before the end of its 30 day trial period. It is a superlative firewall which runs flawlessly without any problems whatsoever, a real pleasant experience after fighting with the bug in ZAP for months, I can assure you.
I only wish that Kerio’s personal firewall got more attention in reputable review sources. I only discovered it when Kerio kept showing up as the best free firewall software, almost universally across the board besting Zone Alarm’s light, “free” version. I ignored Kerio initially because the only reviews I kept seeing were for the free version and I was of the mindset that, generally speaking, you get what you pay for. When the software kept popping up as the best free firewall software, I finally followed the link and discovered more about it.
Otherwise, I might never have found the trial of your excellent firewall.
The modestly priced “pay” version of Kerio for some reason doesn’t end up in the non-free firewall reviews. I have no doubt it would stack up splendidly against Zone Alarm Pro, Norton’s and Panda’s firewall software programs and the like. I hope to see your paid version of Kerio Personal Firewall included in new reviews of “premium” firewall software packages in the future. It’s a heck of a product and I hope now that Sunbelt has acquired it, the company will aggressively promote it.
Kind Regards,
Debra
Gallery B
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Alex Eckelberry