PeerGuardian

PeerGuardian is a firewall app that helps filter network traffic using lists of specific hosts. It was designed to keep you safe while using P2P connections, but just a heads up, it’s no longer in active development.

Getting Started with PeerGuardian

When you first open PeerGuardian, it’ll ask you to install a helper tool and restart your network application so it can start filtering your connections right away.

Managing Your Lists

The main window of PeerGuardian lets you easily manage your list settings and even create new ones. You can choose whether to allow all ranges or just standard ports. Plus, you can provide the URL for the host list or select a file from your computer.

Quick Configuration Options

To make things easier, PeerGuardian allows you to quickly switch the status of your configurations. You can also give custom names to your lists, which helps you remember what each one is for.

Tracking Your Connections

Once you've turned on the host lists filter, PeerGuardian goes to work blocking network connections. You’ll be able to check a log that shows what the app is doing and review some handy stats about its activity.

Your Blocked Addresses

The app keeps track of how many addresses it blocks and shows you numbers for incoming, outgoing, total blocks, and allowed connections. It even creates real-time graphs or updates them at intervals that you set!

Easily Disable Filters

If you ever want to take a break from filtering, it’s super easy to turn off all PeerGuardian filters and let through all incoming or outgoing connections. But honestly, having this protection while using P2P is usually a smart move.

The Bottom Line

In short, PeerGuardian is a flexible firewall application that works with almost any host list based on what you're working on at the moment. It comes with built-in settings for blocking ads, spyware, or troublesome IPs—but feel free to create your own setups!

A Note on Development Status

Keep in mind that since PeerGuardian isn’t actively developed anymore, contributions from others are always welcome by the original authors.