Menus run across the top of the Sygate Personal Firewall main console, just above the toolbar. Clicking on the menu name will open the drop-down list of options for that menu.
There are five menus in Sygate Personal Firewall. File, Security, Tools, View, and Help.
The File menu contains the Close and Exit Firewall options. Selecting the Close option will close Sygate Personal Firewall. Selecting Exit Firewall disables Sygate Personal Firewall. If you chose to disable the firewall, you can restart it through the Programs menu under the Start menu.
You can change your security level through the Security menu.
Block All - Blocks all traffic coming into and leaving your computer through your network adapter. This setting is recommended if you plan to be away from your computer while it is running, and are not downloading data from the Internet at the time.
Normal - Normal operating mode. Sygate Personal Firewall will ask permission to grant new applications access to the Internet.
Allow All - Allows any and all traffic entering or leaving your computer through the network adapter, essentially disabling firewall protection. This level is only recommended if you need to disable the firewall while using incompatible software.
The Tools menu provides several options. Selecting Applications opens the Applications List, a catalog of all the software applications that have attempted to access your network, as well as the level of trust you have associated with them.
You can choose to view any of the four logs files from the Tools menu by choosing the Logs option.
The Options selection offers features including e-mail alerts, Network Neighborhood browsing rights, multiple NIC support, and log file configuration.
The Advanced Rules option will open the Advanced Rules window.
A checklist on the Tools menu provides the options to automatically launch Sygate Personal Firewall when your computer is booted, use SOS vulnerability assessment, hide the System Tray Icon, or disable the firewall altogether.
The View menu gives you the option to alter the display of software programs in the Running Applications field. The option Large Icons displays 32x32 icons in the field. The Small Icons option displays 16x16 icons. Both the large and small icon displays provide the full name of the application below the icon itself, and the icons are displayed in a ìcorkboardî fashion.
The List option also provides small icon representations, with the icons displayed in a standard list.
The Program Details option provides not only a list of all running applications, but also useful information on the version number and location path of each application.
The Connection Details options gives further information on the type of connection being made by an each application accessing your network connection, as well as the protocol, local and remote ports and IP addresses being used, the application path, and more.
The Help menu provides a link to the embedded Help file, the About window, the Registration window, and links to information on SygateÆ Technologies Managed Firewall and Internet Sharing opportunities. Also, if you want to upgrade your firewall protection to Sygate Personal Firewall Pro, you can access the link from the Help menu.