I like to try out desktop protection tools that combine firewalls with anti-virus and anti-spam measures, so I threw the latest version of Software602s 602LAN Suite 2004 on a Labs machine.
This combo tool is not for the timid, but when a product is free—as is the five-user version I tried—you cant expect a lot of handholding.
One of the coolest things about the 602LAN Suite is that the initial reporting interface is presented in a no-nonsense text log. It was also easy to lock down desktop systems and start filtering junk mail with the new filter-based anti-spam capabilities.
However, what I saw as advantages could turn out to be a real pain for IT administrators at a midsize branch office. For one thing, the product has no central policy configuration and no good way to share configurations among machines.
For another, the reports are likely to provide users with too much information and could confirm ITs suspicion that the product is too complicated to use.
More information is available at www.software602.com.
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