This free firewall offers a good level of protection for home users, and is powerful enough for advanced users yet simple enough for beginners. It can be used without any user-intervention, although for the more advanced user there is a configuration page to increase or decrease the protection level(s).

Outpost Free has some useful features, such as ad-blocking (all types) and image blocking which can mean you can avoid hidden images within your email and other spamming attempts.

A neat feature of Outpost is its ability to be used as access control for your family. You can block specific websites or simply all websites contaning a list of keywords. It can also block access to applications.

Note that this is the Free version of the commercial Outpost Firewall Pro which offers additional functionality including anti-spyware protection, web-based access control, identity protection, technical support and far more.