Game profiles - genius
Built into SteelSecurity is a little application called Game Profiles. This is similar to NVIDIA’s game profiles in their display control panel and it works in the same way too. What this does is automatically configure all the various programmes in the SteelSecurity package (the AV, firewall, anti-spam etc) for the game you’re playing. So that manes you won’t get that Norton-style slow down as a system or file scan kicks in. You won’t get the AVG drop-out to tell you it’s updated either as auto-update is suspended whilst you’re playing.
Click for larger imageThe clever bit is that when you first launch a game, SteelSecurity checks it against its regularly updated database and will then automatically configure your firewall for you. So you can kiss goodbye to those ZoneAlarm blues of not having the right ports open. The current list of games covers pretty much all the major titles and there’s more being added all the time.
However, if you happen to have a game not yet on the list, you can always create your own profile for it. This is done through a simple wizard, or, if you need some odd port open somewhere, you can go in through the slightly more advanced settings and configure a new profile from there. In practise this is all easy enough but I did hit one snag that took me a while to sort out.
Click for larger imageRemember I said all my machines sit behind a router? Well SteelSecurity can’t help you with that, so you need to go in and configure your router too. Any half decent router will give you the option to pop a machine out from behind the firewall, into the DMZ as it’s called. Now I thoroughly recommend you DON’T do this unless you have some sort of firewall on the machine in question… and make sure your machine is using a fixed IP on your network. As an experiment, I popped the gaming rig out into the DMZ with SteelSecurity running and then hit Shields Up to test the firewall. I was relieved to see it come back having passed with flying colours.
That machine has now been sitting in the DMZ for the last two weeks with no sign of trouble. I haven’t had my bank account emptied nor has my machine taken on a life of its own and started e-mailing everyone with solutions for the erection problems. Nope, the gaming rig is just sitting there, being a gaming machine. Sweet.
