Network Associates Updates Desktop Firewall

McAfee Desktop Firewall 8.0 allows IT administrators to prevent users from running unauthorized programs without taking away users' ability to control their desktops, said Ryan McGee, director of product marketing at McAfee Security, a division of Network Associates, based here.

"It allows a system administrator to really lock down the systems that they have to support without going to the very extreme tactic of taking away users' administrative rights on their machines," he said.

That new feature, which is something that customers had asked for, will help kick-start sales for solution provider partners that have a McAfee customer base, McGee said.

The other big new feature in the updated Desktop Firewall allows the McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator management tool to check a client's security before it connects to the corporate network, he said. If a client has outdated antivirus files or configurations, it won't be allowed to connect to the network until it receives the proper updates via ePolicy Orchestrator.

"It's that initial few seconds where we really tighten things up," McGee said.

McAfee Desktop Firewall 8.0 is available now. For 101 to 250 nodes, it costs $14.62 per node, including first-year support.