Bot Revolt automatically blocks known dangerous IP addresses

Protecting your PC from malware normally involves trying to detect its files just as soon as you possibly can. And so you might have an antivirus tool scanning everything you access for known threats, say, or monitoring programs for suspicious behavior.

These techniques can be bypassed, of course -- and they often are -- but Bot Revolt claims it can help, adding a new layer of security which will "block over 1 billion known malicious sources" from around the world.

The program works by monitoring all your incoming and outgoing network connections. Just launch it and you’ll see these displayed, along with their source IP address, destination and protocol.

These connections are then compared against databases of known malicious systems (sources include BlockList Pro, I-BlockList, FraudWatch International, and so on). And if there’s a match, the connection is automatically closed.

Problems

This approach obviously has plenty of limitations. If you’re infected by malware which is trying to reach an address which isn’t on a blacklist, for instance, then Bot Revolt won’t notice, or care.

And even if the program does close a connection, it can’t remove the malware behind it, so you’ll still need a capable antivirus tool on hand.

Still, you can at least run Bot Revolt Free alongside an existing security package, and that might be useful if you think you’re infected: install the program, let it run for a day or two, see if it spots any dangerous connections.

If you like the idea, there’s also a commercial version which drops the ads, provides regular updates and adds a private browsing feature.

Sounds reasonable, although the $47 a year subscription is rather less appealing: we can think of many better ways to spend the money.

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