For what it's worth, I have a pack of lifetime licenses to the Outpost Suite and I'm considering purchasing one of these Firewall-only licenses because there have been times when I wanted to mix-n-match the firewall and antivirus from different vendors, but the Outpost Suite won't let you selectively install these components. (If anyone knows a way to do this, I'd appreciate a pointer).
I tried using the Suite key with the Firewall-only download (or maybe it was with the Outpost AV - I honestly can't remember which I was trying to single out), but the key wasn't accepted, and tech support said that there's nothing for it.
Anyway, I guess it says something that I'm even thinking about dropping another $30 just to cover this potential corner-case situation in the future. But in all honesty I probably won't pull the trigger - even if I find myself wanting to do that kind of thing in the future, it will likely just be a test situation that I can deal with by using freebie/trial licenses.
As another disclaimer - I've grown to dislike pretty much all anti-malware software There was a day when I liked to tweak these things and know everything about exactly what was going in and out and where. But I've grown tired of that, and I just want something that will keep malware at bay without asking me a bunch of confusing questions, notifying me about stuff that makes no sense, or - worst of all - making my system unstable.
Even worse, I generally distrust all anti-malware software. No matter which I have installed, I feel like *something* is going to screw up my system. Sometimes it has been the anti-malware software itself that damaged my system! Oh, the irony. That's the reason I don't even consider McAfee or Norton anymore, though those incidents were from long, long ago, and for all I know their current offerings are just fine. I want - actually, need - to trust that the anti-malware is really going to protect my systems. But, for various reasons, that trust is not complete with any anti-malware I've tried; however, the Outpost Suite has gained enough of my trust for me to be happy with it - without Agnitum hitting me up for a fee every year.
But - I still find myself irritated every time it asks whether something-or-other needs to be allowed or not.
I *think* that I might be happy enough with the Windows 7 built-in firewall, but I still use Outpost even though I find its notifications/questions more intrusive and confusing than I like. I believe it offers better protection. Though to be honest, I really don't have the knowledge or data about firewalls to say for certain that that's true. However, for the other aspects in the Outpost Suite, such as anti-virus (which is not part of today's BDJ offering), I know for certain that Outpost offers better protection for me than Microsoft Security Essentials.
I'd also like to point out that Agnitum's support has been responsive, and Agnitum has actually implemented fixes for problems and cleared up false positives I've reported. Their product really does get better with every release, and in their more recent releases they've paid a lot of attention to the performance of the product, seeking to counter the tendency that products generally have of bloating.
So, in summary, consider this an endorsement of Agnitum's products and support, but one qualified by the fact that I generally don't like the whole field of anti-malware offerings. It's sort of like paying taxes, I suppose.
