After searching for months for usable network management software, I personally think Glasswire is great. Most software under the genre of network management or network analysis are primarily in-depth, byte level control systems that are not suitable for general use nor do they clearly show with a simple display what may be the issues within a network.
Glasswire allows both professionals and general home users a way to quickly and clearly monitor the key control aspects of their networks. If you must have a network analyzer with complex tables of usage and data flow, Glasswire as a preliminary tool can point you in the right direction quickly.
One of the Glasswire functions is Firewall control/management. That’s great (and I suspect this was it’s first primary function), but it is not now truly all that Glasswire is about. So I don’t think the name “Glasswire Firewall and Network Monitor” is truly appropriate. For one, you still need Windows Firewall to fully manage your Firewall. More importantly to me is that Glasswire provides really great network monitoring functions (and with a few improvements, it will be much better).
That’s why I suggest that the name on all websites, search tags, etc be changed to “Glasswire Network Monitor” or “Glasswire Network and Firewall Monitor”. There are lots of firewalls out there. There are few true Network Monitors. My first inclination during my searches was to bypass Glasswire Firewall Monitor – not what I wanted. Instead I reviewed and tested more than 10 Network Managers before finally trying Glasswire out of desperation.
(If anyone knows of another graphical Network Monitor out there, I would like to know of it. I couldn’t find it and using a network analyzer used to be a key part of my activity while I worked in network control.)
(And as a further aside, those who are critical of Glasswire’s cost structure are out of their minds. Again, tell me even one application that provides the functionality of Glasswire. – There! Had to get that off my chest!)
