First Look: Little Snitch 2.0
updated 12:00 pm EST, Sat November 17, 2007
Little Snitch first look
Security is a large issue for many people, especially when it comes to personal privacy concerns. Many applications "phone home", most of the time with the naive purpose such as software validation, but in some cases, the application will report personal information or other things of a private nature. Most users have no control over such reports, since they typically happen behind the scenes. Little Snitch aims to combat this, and has recently been updated to v2.0, sporting a new interface and several enhancements from its first incarnation.
Little Snitch no longer inhabits the System Preferences, instead it is managed by the Little Snitch Configuration app, located in the Applications folder. New to this version is a menu bar icon that displays any network activity – up and down – and provides access to the Network Monitor, Rules and Preferences.
Little Snitch's configuration menu
The pop-up windows have been changed as well, providing a clean interface that contains three tabs, four buttons, and "Allow" and "Deny" buttons. The purpose of these controls is to determine whether you want to accept the connection or decline it, for how long, and to where, allowing for a very specific refinements to connection management.
Alert dialog
The Preferences window allows users to customize whether they want Little Snitch to provide constant feedback about network activity, and provides options for alerts, rule-handling, security, and turning Little Snitch on or off.
The preferences dialog
Rules are what Little Snitch uses to determine what connections to provide and deny access, and where existing rules can be modified or deleted. Rules can be filtered according to certain criteria, such as User Defined Rules, or Temporary Rules. Objective Development has improved how the app deals with full screen applications: in addition to hearing the Speakable Items voice reading out the name of the connection, Little Snitch can automatically accept the rule (pending that the correct preference was activated), or the user can switch out of full screen mode and accept or modify the rule manually.
The Rules manager
The semi-transparent network monitor shows exactly what services are currently active, with up and down indicators to the right of the entry. Selecting the service highlights it at the top of the window, showing also a connection history based on what servers the app has tried to access.
The network monitor
Little Snitch 2.0 available from Objective Development's product page for $25 and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
Little Snitch
11/17, 01:54pm reply
I loved the previous version. Downloaded the latest demo and I am not sure about upgrading. I liked it before because it worked more behind the scenes and only got my attention when necessary. This one scatters itself over the memu bar and the monitor window and always seems to want to be noticed. I like the aspect of it alerting me when an application wants to call home but this version seems to be a bit more needy for attention.
jogdish
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
worth the upgrade
11/17, 08:24pm reply
really worth the upgrade.
jeph4e
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2005
Prefer the new version
11/17, 09:16pm reply
I prefer the latest version (2.0) as I am not a fan of software that buries itself.
The rules are very easy to edit.
My only complaint is that it notices everything. The best program would read my mind and not bug me about every connection. /sacarsm
Dave Barnes
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2002
2.0
11/18, 07:42am reply
Great product, easy to use but absolutely hate the icon/logo... nit-picky! ;)
smezjj
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2001
1.x was better!
11/18, 10:17am reply
2.0 won't work at all with my network. It totally kills my airport base station, forcing a hardware reset. Never had a problem with 1.x. Little Snitch tech support has been less than helpful too. I wish 1.x still worked in Leopard!
G4_Kessel
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2003
more nitpicking
11/18, 02:41pm reply
I want the semi-transparent network monitor to appear on activity, but I don't want the menu item. Prefs seem to indicate this should be possible, but the menu thing keeps reappearing regardless of how I set it up. Other than that, this new version is very nice. (No problems on my airport express network either)
Kees
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2001
works great
11/18, 04:09pm reply
Works great for me. No problem with the airport network. No problem with the menu bar item. Does a great job.
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
Great Product
11/19, 10:49am reply
I initially found the upgrade to 2.0 a little jarring because it *did* provide a lot more visual feedback about what was happening and because the rules were reset (to pretty much nothing allowed without confirmation) in the upgrade process.
However, I've grown to love the new version. The interface is a lot sleeker, and after tweaking the preferences I now only get the network activity information when I leave the mouse lingering over the menu bar item. This activity view is really useful since it gives me a one-stop view of what's actually talking to the network in a format that's a good deal easier to read than netstat.
I've even grown to love the little menu bar monitor -- one of the university sites that I have to use regularly to share data files does so through a pop-up without a menu bar. Sometimes, Safari seems to require an extra click or two before the upload kicks off but there was no way to tell what was happening. Now I can see the outbound traffic ramp up when the data is actually being posted.
All in all, well worth the upgrade fee.
jon
jreades
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 1999
Is it needed in Leopard?
11/25, 03:28am reply
I too have upgraded and paid my license fee. I also like the upgrade. However, now that I understand more about the new Firewall in Leopard, I wonder what added value Little Snitch brings? The new firewall in Leopard (albeit disabled by default) is an application-based firewall that asks for permissions on ingoing and outgoing transmissions, unlike the previous packet based approach. What does Little Snitch add?
PEHowland
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2004