MacOS: 3 good firewalls in comparison
MacOS is considered the most secure operating system, but the internal firewall only protects against incoming threats. Programs and apps could upload your files to the Internet, for example. A more comprehensive firewall can help. In this tip, we present 3 good additions or alternatives to the Mac firewall.
TCPBlock - Manage application rights
With the free tool TCPBlock you can set the exact network rights of your programs or applications. The firewall shows you the last 100 programs that have accessed the Internet. You can then restrict programs from this list. These will no longer have Internet access in the future. The program is available free of charge as donationware.
- Easily manage access: You can create white or blacklists to share the Internet with individual programs, or you can decide whether to allow it with continuous monitoring for each access.
- Logging function: All actions such as blocks or Internet releases are recorded by the tool and can be viewed later.
- Conclusion: TCPBlock is a practical firewall for beginners, which can also be used completely free of charge.
Little Snitch - the addition to the Mac firewall
With "Little Snitch" you add to the Mac firewall to prevent functions, programs and apps from accessing the Internet. The tool offers many advanced setting options, but currently costs 30 euros.
- Practical learning function: The program asks you when establishing a connection whether access should be allowed. However, you only have to set this once, the prohibitions and permits are saved.
- Accurate, clearly presented statistics about the network access of the past hour: The access of individual programs is shown very clearly with graphs.
- Conclusion: For 30 euros you get a useful tool that is easy to use for beginners, but also offers functions for experts such as IP ranges or port numbers.
Mac Internet Security X8 - comprehensive protection for your Mac
With its "Internet Security X8" program, Intego also offers a firewall and a virus scanner for your Mac. This automatically searches your hard disk for malware at set times. The firewall also offers functions such as real-time monitoring, statistics and the white and blacklists to block access. "Intego Internet Security X8" can currently be purchased for 40 euros.
- Different network profiles: The firewall tool offers different profiles such as "At home" or "Work" for customized access settings.
- Quickly change settings: You can easily remove restrictions temporarily, for example, if a program should only have access to the Internet sometimes.
- Conclusion: Although the program is not cheap at 40 euros, it offers many practical functions and an additional virus scanner.
In this practical tip we will explain how you can backup your Mac.