GlassWire Firewall

What do you like best?

The break down of the network activity is one of the best that I've seen from other network activity scanners. Not only does it help you see what programs are pulling from the network but also how much. Being able to turn off and on specific programs is a real help when troubleshooting. Since this is available for multiple devices and OS's you can keep track of your digital footprint as it were. Whenever anything is behaving questionably there is even the feature to have that program analyzed for any virus or malware definitions.

The most helpful aspect that I have found is being notified whenever a new service starts using the network. If you haven't added any new programs and something starts to connect you know something is up. An upside is that everything is all in one place and easy to get to.

What do you dislike?

The pay-per-month income setup is not a favorite of mine. As these programs are great for what they can do by keeping you on such a program it will inevitably become a problem for some as it cannot fully take over for an antivirus. If using with another antivirus it would yield some serious protections against intruders into your system. But on the other hand if you could only choose one many would opt for the antivirus protections since this has no real time scanner.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

If you have knowledge of networks and what a more detailed breakdown of your activity then GlassWire is where to look.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

It did help me see where some hidden programs were causing some unnecessary network draw and remove them. If needing a detailed network outline and consumption and a meta amount of control over the network this is a clear contender for 1st place. It has made network overview much less of a hassle in trying to see what is drawing what.