I was using Blockpost for Outpost for several years, but had to give it up when I installed the new Outpost 2008. The original Blockpost was a third party plugin, written by Outpost users, but now Agnitum are writing their own Blockpost for Outpost. Blockpost has my warmest recommendations.
Here is a copy&paste from January's email from Agnitum Directions:
Agitum Plans Blockpost for 2008
Chief Architect Alexey Belkin gives a sneak peek at new functionality for 2008:
OFP = Outpost Firewall Pro
OSS 2008 = Outpost Security System 2008
In 2008, we (Agnitum) will continue to enrich our products with the latest functionality and improvements to your security and your user experience. In the next upgrade to OFP and OSS 2008, codenamed R2, we’ll be integrating functionality similar to that provided currently by the Blockpost third-party plugin.
Q.: Alexey, what does Blockpost do? Please also tell us a little about its history.
A.: Blockpost was originally developed by an Outpost fan as a separate plugin. Its goal is to block malicious web sites and advertising networks through the use of a blacklist of IP-addresses associated with these sites. Many users requested that we incorporate this kind of functionality into the base products, so we’ve written a new module to provide this capability. While the original Blockpost plugin was good, it wasn’t compatible with the latest Outpost version that support Vista, IPv6 and x64 systems.
Q.: How is Blockpost different from the spyware-site blocking and web control functions already in Outpost? They seem to be doing the same thing. What’s the difference?
A.: Yes, Outpost does already provide several different ways to block unwanted IPs, special firewall rules being one of them. But Blockpost gives you more flexibility - it is completely user-controlled and user-generated. You can upload your own lists of infective IPs, even define a range of IP numbers that you consider unsafe. And you don’t have to spend extra time creating rules - there are text-based lists of bad IPs easily available on the Internet.
Q.: But what works for one person might not work for another…
A.: That’s absolutely true. And false positives can also happen unless you’re careful. You need to double-check the IPs before you add them to Blockpost - some of the lists out there are old, and the IP addresses on those lists may well have become legitimate in the interim. No-one wants to give up half of their Internet sources just because somebody had once put them on a blacklist. Tastes differ, and people change.
Q.: So how would you sum up the user benefits of Blockpost?
A.: Blockpost saves time by ensuring that the websites you visit are legitimate, supports all the new Outpost architectures, has an easy-to-use interface, and provides more control and stability
Special offer:
Get 1 year of free protection for your business or classroom!
Special Offer! 2 years for the price of 1! From now until March 1, 2008, Agnitum is extending a special offer to anyone looking for a great deal on security for a small business or educational institution. If you have a minimum of five PCs, you can protect your office or classroom against Internet threats for two years for the price of one. This offer covers both Outpost Firewall Pro and Outpost Security Suite Pro 2008.
Follow this link to learn more about how your office or classroom can benefit from this offer!
