Impasse is a new Firewall front-end for Mac OS X.1 written with two design goals: ease of use and intelligence. To that end, Impasse has the following features: Accessibility. A firewall is a constant application that is more about the state of a computer rather than performing a task for a user. As such, it is a logical addition as a pane to the System Preferences application. Auto-detection. Impasse automatically detects what services you are running when you try to start your firewall. It then prompts you about differences in those services and the services allowed through your firewall. Easy Mode. For users who do not care about how firewalls work or what IP address they're using or what ports correspond to what service, Impasse has an easy mode. Simply check or uncheck the services that you want to be available to the outside. Or let Impasse automatically detect the running services for you. Advanced Mode. For users who are interested in configuring their firewalls to suit special situations, advanced mode lets you control every aspect of your firewall. Additionally, advanced mode detects which networks you are currently on, allowing you to create firewall rules which automatically use your settings. (Currently, Impasse only detects your "Outside" interface and network -- that is, the one that is your default for sending requests. Future versions will include support for multiple networks and include a Software Base Station.) What's New: Version 1.3 adds support for the iPod 1.2 software.  |  |
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