BullGuard 2018 - new firewall?

I recently received an email from BullGuard setting out the features of the forthcoming BullGuard 2018. Is the 'new firewall' referred to really new (i.e. a stand-alone firewall), or is it still based on the Windows firewall, regarding which there has been much adverse comment in these Forums since it was introduced?

An important question for many customers, myself included. If Bullguard are going to continue to supply their Security Suite without a firewall then I will not be signing up for it again. I am still hopeful that the higher ups would have already taken steps to replace the current Windows fudge with a standalone firewall at least as good as the one they removed some months ago. The Agnitum Firewall was one of the best firewalls on the market and will be sorely missed by all who used it and trusted it. So any replacement cannot be just a few bells and whistles on top of the very user unfriendly Windows Firewall that was never very concerned with customer privacy or data security.

No matter how it gets dressed up the fact is any firewall security failures are no longer Bullguard's concern. From now on Bullguard can just blame Windows and its ever present vulnerabilities and refer people to Microsofts help pages. I would have some sympathy for Bullguard if the people there had not tried to pass off this mess as if they were doing me a favour.

Even today I looked through the pages of specifications and settings guides, aimed at new customers, and there is no mention of the demise of the firewall. It sounds like it always sounded as if you get a firewall when you pay for Bullguard. The protction guides still describe, and illustrate, the old Agnitum Firewall with its layers of settings and menus. Very little, if any, of these pages are applicable to people thinking about buying a licence today.

It seems very cynical that Bullguard thinks this is fair. People with some know how will quickly find that all is not as it should be. People who have little experience and who trust the automatic settings are at the mercy of a Bullguard and Windows mash-up to keep them safe.

This, on top of the handling of the situation from day one, is a potential PR disaster for Bullguard. Everyone wants the best protection they can get for their money. For a lot of years, for me, this was Bullguard. As the cyber criminals get more clever, and more numerous, I feel I need better and better protection. The last thing I want to do is downgrade my security in any way. So please, Bullguard, give us back a firewall that is an actual firewall.

Similar sentiments here:



https://www.bullguard.com/forum/11/since-the-firewall-is-now-wind_124712.html

With 3 years left on my license, Bullguard please respond. I'd hate to leave a good product, but would like some answers.

Sorry mates, 

when is the 2018 released scheduled? 



I'm sorry for FW issues, I'm using only AV, but I'm sure BG will find how to fix it. 



 

Hi all.

Looks like the Firewall is never going to be as good as it once was. I have spent the last few weeks waiting to see if there would be any real improvement. Suffice to say I am not in the least convinced I can configure the Windows Firewall to be as secure as I would like. Windows, with the advent of Telemetric Monitoring, have opened the firewall to a whole range of weaknesses and abuses. Even with the Telemetrics disabled, by SDAntiBeacon, the Firewall is left configured to allow all but the most obvious data theft to escape out through it. The Bullguard add on is not now, or ever likely to be, a means of transforming the Windows Firewall into a serious security feature. Windows is inherently porous for the very reason that Windows is running Telemetrics that are now standard in all versions of Windows back to 7. I wonder how a Windows Firewall, left to its own devices, ever prevents any intrusions or leaks perpitrated by the kind of hi tech cyber criminals we are hoping to guard against.

My Bullguard licence expires in the next few days, a Bullguad window keeps reminding me how exposed I will be if I do not renew it. Its time to change to a new security suite because I already do feel very exposed. Thanks for the last ten years people at Bullguard. But no thanks.

I am very sorry to hear of your decision.

Even if I wrote multiple times on this subject, it seems to me, from your description, that I was unable to relay the fact that BullGuard Firewall still is BullGuard Firewall and what we are "borrowing" from Windows Firewall is just the low level rules (packet attributes filtering). I apologize if this is the case.

Someone wrote that my explanations are my own. I am aware that my simple explanations aren't always sufficient to satisfy the more technical users. However, as I am sure you are all aware, a security company sharing information about it's products and processes on a forum can't possibly be very secure. I have given everyone as much information as possible to make an informed decision on their own.

We understand (better perhaps than any other security company) that each user has very specific needs, as our customers are surgeons, business men/women, gamers, grandmothers, forensic detectives, engineers, designers, students, jurnalists and so on. We try our best to have a simple product to use, while ensuring that these important valuable people have one care less on their already busy minds. We do things considering every piece of feedback we receive, but a good product can mean different things to different people. To be able to have a product available, decisions need to be made, and considering all the information and experience we have, we are confident we made the right one.