Little Snitch 4

#1

I just discovered this tool even though I’ve heard it mentioned in some podcast. Really liking how they take a boring Firewall software and making it exciting and fun to use. The way they visualize the connectivity in a global maps is really nice. The “Research Assistant”, who will tell you common Mac processes and what they do, helps me decide which process to allow the connection through. There is also a way to subscribe to some community rules (I haven’t tried this out yet), so, that’s also a pretty easy way to quickly set up some rules to deny connection to ad network.

I also like that I can create Profiles for Home, Work or Starbucks and decide what apps can connect in which location I’m at. Very useful if I’m tethering on my cell network and stopping App Store or CrashPlan from downloading and backing up.

I wonder though, once all these are set up, how often do I still use the tool or let it run in the background. Will the novelty ends?

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#2

I use Little Snitch. It’s nice to be able to block connections (like to the ever famous google-analytics domain).

In the beginning, you’re gonna get hit a lot because it’s going to ask permission for every single connection. Once you get your rules built in, it’ll slow down a bit and you’ll probably only see it for new apps. I’ve been running it for about a year now and I often go days without seeing a new request.

Just let it run in the background.

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#3

A couple of years ago they changed the default to permit connections until told not to.

I’ve used LS since 2012 or 2013, upgrading along the way. Great app. I have it block reporting to doubleclick (Google advertising tracking) and similar sites.

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#4

The have come a long way visually since the old version. Putting it full screen and seeing all these lines lit up made me feel all powerful and Hollywood like. Ha ha ha!

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#5

Blockquote A couple of years ago they changed the default to permit connections until told not to.

Is that still the case today? I feel like last time I started it up on a fresh install, it asked if I wanted it to run in quiet mode, or notification mode. I personally like notification mode. It’s rough at first but it does quiet down eventually.

#6

Silent Mode is what the default setting was supposed to be, from what I recall. Perhaps they now just ask which you want. When updating, your previous choices are retained, so I haven’t changed from Silent Mode since it was introduced two summers ago.

I find Silent mode to be preferable - I just periodically invoke Little Snitch from the menubar and see if there are any recent connections I want to stop (or always permit).

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#7

Currently on sale (50% off): https://obdev.at/shop/index.html

I once bought v3 in a bundle, but never used it much.

Wonder whether I should give it another try…

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#8

Great app. I have used it since 2011. The developer is great and also makes launchbar at which imho is the best launcher app.