Untangle at Home Reviewed

[awraynor]

I use Eero for Wi-Fi and it does pretty well given the configuration of my house.

I tried the Eero Premium service. It said it was blocking a lot of bad stuff, but not what it was blocking.

My 8-year old is getting into Steam gaming. Found uTorrent and a video app on his P.C. Likely by add-on to other software. For that I might put him on Windows10 S or lock him down further.

For network I want better visibility of network traffic from surreptitious apps along with threat management. We use a combination of Win10 Pro devices, Chromebooks, Surface Pro's, iPhones and Android phones.

 

[abailey]

Untangle can certainly do what you want. Also it is not complicated as such. In fact the install wizard does most of it for you. What takes time is understanding its capabilities, deciding how you want things filtered, and getting the reports you need. In other words its not the complexity that is the problem with Untangle it is the sheer number of options. You will need to put a few hours into the setup. Once setup and your familiar with the features, the ongoing maintenance and changes here and there are easy. The nice thing is you can set it up like a standard NAT consumer firewall in just a few minutes and then as you get time you can implement other options.
If you are serious about Untangle you can fool around with the demo and look at a couple of intro videos on their Youtube channel to get a real good understanding of what all Untangle can do and how it is done. From there the best places for info are their Forums and their Wiki (their Wiki covers every option in Untangle).
One other thing, if you choose Untangle, I would definitely not load it on a consumer router (like Linksys or Asus). You can purchase an appliance from Untangle, load it on a router sized computer like a Qotom, or use a workstation/server type machine.

 

[awraynor]

Untangle can certainly do what you want. Also it is not complicated as such. In fact the install wizard does most of it for you. What takes time is understanding its capabilities, deciding how you want things filtered, and getting the reports you need. In other words its not the complexity that is the problem with Untangle it is the sheer number of options. You will need to put a few hours into the setup. Once setup and your familiar with the features, the ongoing maintenance and changes here and there are easy. The nice thing is you can set it up like a standard NAT consumer firewall in just a few minutes and then as you get time you can implement other options.
If you are serious about Untangle you can fool around with the demo and look at a couple of intro videos on their Youtube channel to get a real good understanding of what all Untangle can do and how it is done. From there the best places for info are their Forums and their Wiki (their Wiki covers every option in Untangle).
One other thing, if you choose Untangle, I would definitely not load it on a consumer router (like Linksys or Asus). You can purchase an appliance from Untangle, load it on a router sized computer like a Qotom, or use a workstation/server type machine.

Thanks a lot. I'm looking at a Synology Router (my Friend uses it with his Eero setup and loves it) and an Untangle compatible box. Likely to try both and keep the one that works best for me. Of all I read Untangle at Home is likely better for me than Sophos or pfSense.

 

[ng4ever]

Finally I found something that can control IDM.

Why must you all hide it on me ?

 

[ng4ever]

Hmm I read a review of Untangled saying it is not that good.

 

[abailey]

Hmm I read a review of Untangled saying it is not that good.

I guess everyone has an opinion. Of the 6 different firewalls I have used (two of them being UTM firewalls) I like Untangle best. But I'm sure its not for everyone. My recommendation would be to download the 14 day free trial and give it a go to see for yourself.

 

[wbennett77]

Hmm I read a review of Untangled saying it is not that good.

Can you give a link to the review?