Advertisement Network security. Doesn’t exactly make you picture beautiful software, does it? That’s about to change. Maybe you’re looking for a way to track your Internet usage and the applications that access the network. Maybe you have a habit of absentmindedly dismissing firewall alerts. Maybe you’d like a way to clue into sneaky We would like to think that the Internet is a safe place to spend our time (cough), but we all know there are risks around every corner.
Glasswire Free Firewall
GlassWire is a software utility that provides you with around-the-clock security when it comes to your Internet connection.
Email, social media, malicious websites that have worked. that your anti-virus might not know about yet, or applications that mishandle your data. If any of these is a concern for you, you’re in luck, because today I invite you to meet the prettiest little Internet/network security app you ever did see. It’s called, and you can. I’ll also give a quick rundown of four less-pretty but open-source/cross-platform options.
Here’s a quick introduction from the creators of GlassWire (launched August 21 this year): GlassWire displays your network activity on an easy to understand graph while searching for unusual Internet behavior that could indicate malware or violations of your privacy. Once unusual network activity is discovered you’re instantly alerted with detailed information so you can protect your computer, privacy, and data. The Firewall tab allows you to manage your built-in Windows 7 contains an unobtrusive, easy-to-use firewall that protects your computer from inbound traffic. If you're looking for more advanced options, such as the ability to control outbound traffic or view the applications using your. The Alerts tab shows you a history of your GlassWire alerts by date, app, and type of alert. Ways GlassWire Can Help What kinds of events can GlassWire track and help you understand, you ask?
Monitor Changes to Applications & System Files GlassWire can display a notification the first time an application accesses the network. It will also notify you if an application ever initiates a connection to a suspicious host. GlassWire also has an Application Info Monitor that can tell you if a version, publisher, certificate, or executable of an application has changed.
If you Any website you visit potentially tracks your browsing habits, loads annoying ads, or distributes malicious software. Most of the time, common sense and standard malware protection software can help you steer clear of the worst., you will want to know if that file ever got changed without you initiating it. That’s why GlassWire will leave a notification for you if The Windows Hosts file allows you to define which domain names (websites) are linked to which IP addresses. It takes precedence over your DNS servers, so your DNS servers may say facebook.com is linked to. are modified, too. Monitor Bandwidth You can also use GlassWire to learn Click.wait.
Does that seem familiar? It's you when you run out of Internet bandwidth! Let's find out what occupies your Internet connection and how to get it back., and how much data you upload or download.
If you’d like a warning of when you go over a certain amount of bandwidth over a period of time, you can set that up under GlassWire’s Settings Security Bandwidth Overage Monitor. Monitor Network & Internet Access GlassWire can tell you when network devices or drivers are added, removed, or changed. It can notify you of changes to your proxy settings, or your DNS server settings. It can also tell you if your Network structure and management have their own lingo. Some of the terms thrown around will likely already sound familiar to you. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are largely self-obvious concepts, although it may require a little bit. Associated with your IP address is changed, protecting you from an ARP spoofing attack.
Put simply, an ARP spoofing attack is a type of Security threats have increasingly come from new directions and that isn’t looking set to change in 2013. There are new risks you should be aware of, exploits of popular applications, increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks, malware.
Where a malicious user may pretend their MAC address is someone else’s, allowing that malicious user to access networks or information that they should not, by pretending to be an authorized device. Personally I really like GlassWire’s Internet Access Monitor because it shows a little notification in the corner of my screen any time my Internet disconnects or reconnects. It removes the frustrating experience of clicking on a link and waiting for a page to load, noticing it’s taking longer than usual, and then mousing over to my system tray to discover I’m not connected. If you want to know about what your computer is doing while idle, GlassWire also has an option to show you a summary of significant network activity that happened “While you were away”. Strange Things To Look For It’s not possible to tell you exactly what your data should look like on GlassWire, because every person uses their computer a little differently. Also, some devices like servers for example may have really different network usage than regular desktops.
The key is to wait until you establish a baseline of what your data looks like during normal activities and then pay attention to deviations from it. You may want to pay attention to what your usage looks like while you Guns don’t share illegal files.
People share illegal files. Or, wait, how does it go again? What I mean to say is, BitTorrent shouldn't be dissed based on its potential for piracy. Files, or upload videos to YouTube or Dropbox, or edit your website, compared to typical Internet surfing.
Looking out for unusual activity and alerts with GlassWire can help you detect the presence of malicious software that may be so new it is unknown to virus scanners. For example, when one GlassWire, he was prompted to investigate. GlassWire visualizes malware This GlassWire fan found malware his antivirus missed.
— GlassWire (@GlassWireLabs) It turned out he had malware that was trying to change proxy settings every few minutes. If you find a file like this or another virus, you can upload it to VirusTotal for tracking across a variety of virus scanners. Other Nifty Features Want to look at GlassWire’s graphs more closely? There’s a handy ‘Pause’ button and even a little camera ‘Snapshot’ button that appears when you hover your mouse over the graph.
Not a fan of the colours? You’ll find a few different skins under Settings. GlassWire’s Alternatives GlassWire is closed-source, and Windows-only for the time being. They promise a version will always be free, but they plan to release a premium version with additional features. One feature GlassWire lacks is the ability to tell you about t he other devices that may be using up your bandwidth. GlassWire will only let you see the usage of a single computer (though it can be set up to monitor a computer or server ). So, to learn about the devices that share your bandwidth, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
One app that When your Internet connection slows down to slow motion, it's not always the ISP's fault. The culprit could be in your house! Let's see how you can identify it. across all devices accessing it is called, shown below. If you need an open-source, If you frequently switch computers and have cloud storage space or USB drives to spare, here's an idea: outsource your applications.,. These include such as (Windows only), Wireshark (Windows, with 3rd party packages available for Mac and various Linux Distros),.
Angry IP Scanner, shown below, is the prettiest of those three (not saying a lot, I know) and the only one officially available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Staying Up To Date The people at GlassWire have been keeping track of new releases and bug-fixes on. If you encounter a bug of your own, you can and even get the credit for spotting it. It’s normal to look at your results and have questions. For people to discuss the software, learn more about what it shows you, and find out how to proceed if GlassWire finds something of concern. Final Thoughts It can be hard to find software that tells you about your computer’s security status in such a beautiful way as GlassWire, so I want to call attention to the design.
GlassWire is an elegant piece of software that offers in-depth information, and Raw numbers and spreadsheets make you yawn? With Tableau Public, free for Windows & Mac, you can turn.xls or.txt data into meaningful visualizations such as graphs and charts. That turns data into meaningful information you have a chance to actually appreciate. Bright, pleasing colours.
Soft, rounded corners. Modern typography. Clear hierarchy and organization of features. All of these things make a big difference in our perception of an app, but ‘p retty’ is not something you can say of most Windows software, historically speaking. However, an app that’s easy on the eyes, that reduces the visual noise you see, reduces cognitive load on the brain. That makes it easier to extract the information it presents, making you more likely to use it. The matter, even in areas like network security.
If an app is ugly, even if it has a pile of useful privacy and security information, you better believe I’ll be looking for a version with a more attractive and clean user interface. I bid the ugly apps goodbye upon finding nicer ones, even if the new ones lack the same level of detail or features. Wouldn’t you? Comment below if you disagree, or if you know of a different network-monitoring app that’s worth having. Image Credit: via Explore more about:,.