Though it may look like a USB flash drive, the Yoggie Firestick Pico is actually a miniature, USB powered linux computer. The Firestick builds on the hardware platform proven by the original Yoggie Pico, which has the same firewall features of the Firestick, but adds built-in hardware support for additional security programs like Anti-Virus, SPAM and Phishing.

The Firestick weighs little more than half an ounce and is powered by a 321Mhz Intel XScale CPU. The Firestick has two physically separate flash memory banks: a 4MB bank that stores a Read-Only, non-corruptible copy of the operating system, and a 32MB flash memory bank that acts as the active workspace during Firestick operation. This configuration protect the device against corruption or virus attack: should the kernel be compromised for any reason, the Firestick will simple reload the OS from the primary memory partition the next time the device is booted.

The Firestick works by separating your computer from your network connection. The Yoggie driver and control console routes all network traffic through the Firestick before it gets to you. This means that external attacks, probes and other network badness is exposed and filtered on a computer that is physically separated from your desktop or laptop. One of the added benefits of this protection scheme is that it doesn’t matter if you are using Wi-Fi, 3G, Ethernet or any other network connection — they are all protected by the Firestick.

Using the Firestick is easy. Plug the device into your computer and run the included software package. The installation is completely automated and you will soon find the Yoggie icon in your status menu. Clicking the icon will bring you into the Firestick User Interface, an easy-to-use and intuitive control panel that will allow you to setup the Firestick as desired.

The Firestick menus look much like the menus of the Pico Pro, but are greatly simplified since the Firestick is only handling Firewall functions. You get an “at-a-glance” status screen that show you current risk level and firewall events, a graphical representations of logs, network status and settings, system info, basic network tools and the like.

One of the nice things about the interface is that it is tweakable by those who are experienced with network administration, but immediately usable by those who are not.

In our lab tests, the Firestick was able to screen out all the most popular attacks like port scanning, IP spoofing and DDOS runs, as well as more esoteric attacks that managed to sneak past the XP and Vista firewalls. The Firestick actually “stealths” your system, making it virtually undetectable on a network.

On of the big selling points of the original Pico Pro was that the offloading of firewall, anti-virus and anti-spam functions made for better system performance and battery life in laptops. Naturally the effect will be greatly reduced in systems using the Firestick since it offloads only the firewall, but we did see performance and power gains.

Running the Firestick on a Gateway M-151X running Windows Vista extended the average battery life during typical usage by about 8%. Using the Firestick on a Dell D410 subnotebook running Windows XP added 15% to total runtime. We noticed that the CPU usage on the 410 was markedly less than normal — meaning that the battery longevity was most probably due to the Firestick offloading the less-efficient XP firewall functions from the CPU, allowing it to run at lower speeds and power states.

The Yoggie Firestick Pico is compatible with Windows XP and Vista, and it comes bundled with a desktop anti-virus suite.

The Yoggie Firestick is available now online for ~$90.