Community Newsletter: Q&A: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary?
- 6/2/05 5:30 PM
Gratitude
by GaryDL - 3/27/07 12:52 PM In reply to: only one software fire wall is needed by garyofaeoThanks!
Fellow Grandpas=CNET is NOT junk mail
by fletcher fitzroy - 6/3/05 7:36 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
What a nice explanation about firewalls. Everyone knows that if you are having trouble with some device made after 1990, you seek out the nearest teenager. All of us grandpas who decided to bite the bullet and get up close and personal with "these dang fancy contraptions"...we have reaped the benefits , and continue to do so. We are all pretty courageous, for it was a steep and difficult learning curve.
One thing handy to have around the house (coming in to your computer)?....CNET! There you find a whole passle of gracious teenagers willing to take the time to explain the "obvious"...(well..it's not obvious to those of us who grew up in a day when operating a wheelbarrow was a challenge!)
Thanks to all you whippersnappers, for your kindness to all of us inept curmudgeons!
Fletcher Fitzroy
Firewall??
by chrismr - 6/3/05 7:37 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
A firewall protection is absolutely necessary if the computer is on the internet. I also advise of installing ad-aware software. If you don't, your PC will become very slow in no time. 5 years ago, it would take about 5 minuets before someone or something scanned your computer, now it just takes about 5 seconds one you are on line. You may want to goto you local librabry and get some of the dummy book series, such as, firewall for dummies, computers for dummies, etc...
These books are excellent and are not witten in all the Tecno mumble jumble. If you need assistance, email me, chrismr@speakeasy.net
Firewall - absolutely necessary?
by abardai - 6/3/05 7:46 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My beef is that the software mentioned requires that no other similar software be running simultaneously. The Panda product, for example, really messed up my security settings: I already had a personal firewall product from Vendor A, and a virus protection product from Vendor B running. Panda suggested that it's product (of which there are so many that a rational choice is made very difficult, and the vendor does not indicate WHY one should choose one over the other) would kill more viruses and so I installed one of their products.
After installation, my computer kept crashing (requiring a hard boot to restart), my internet connection did not work, my emails would not download from the service provider's server, and so on.
After much lip-biting and hair-pulling, I uninstalled the Panda product and was grinning from ear to ear when everything started working well again!
Amin
Shields Up
by llearl84 - 6/3/05 8:15 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Shields Up looks like a awesome test sight, are there other sights like it to do a cross test?
Is a firewall absolutely necessary?
by sroyeton - 6/3/05 8:17 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I am a grandfather also, I have been into computers for around 12 years now. I was even a computer technician for around 8 years, until I retired. I found Miguel K's description of the how and why of firewalls to be exceptional. I started with Zone Alarm's free program and graduated to Zone Alarm Pro and I am on version 5.5.094. This program, like he described, is easy and extremely effective. Like Miguel advised I use it inconjunction with a Spyware program (Microsoft AntiSpyware beta 1, [http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx] and Spybot Search & Destroy [http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html], both are free), an adware program (Ad-Aware SE Plus, the basic program [http://www.lavasoft.nu/] is free) and an antivirus program (NOD32 [http://nod32.com/home/home.htm], not free) which tend to keep my computer safe. All of these programs are easy to use, even for grandpas.
The only thing I found fault with was recommending Symantec's programs. Symantec's (Norton) programs are all but impossible to remove, if you decide you don't want them. They also tend to do things with your computer you don't want. Among a lot of tech's, Symantec is known as the computer killer. I have had to reformat numerous computers in order to get rid of Symantec programs. I would stick with Trend, McAfee or Zone Alarm's products.
Firewall
by genifycom - 6/3/05 8:26 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I do not understand this answer at all! First Miguel points out that separating out tasks to different extensions (ports) is a good thing, and then he says we need a firewall to close down these extensions thus forcing more calls to other extensions. These days, people basically only leave port 80 (http) open and thus http has become the overworked protocol! We use http for mail, for web services for networking and so on and we have thus moved to exactly his nightmare scenario.
To draw Miguals analogy, it is like programming the main switchboard to route extension 01 to sales, 02 to support, 03 to directions etc. Then we install a firewall which prevents some of those phones from ringing.
The real reason for firewalls is ignorance. Companies such as firewall companies and anti-virus companies have taken advantage of this ignorance and built it into a paranoia that builds a smoke screen around the issues.
Why can't we talk about port usage and open up communication instead of closing it down? Teaching people about the issues is ALWAYS a better solution.
Firewalls are not enough
by IRQL_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO - 6/3/05 8:31 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
By themselves, firewalls are not enough to protect your computer. You need an Intrusion Detection System. Most personal firewalls have an integrated IDS with signature-based detection. But it is important to remember that a firewall alone isn't enough.
firewall
by gil rodriguez - 6/3/05 8:32 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Gracias Miguel, you have performed a great service to a lot people with your reply to Grandpa, gracias once again - Gil
Excellent Feedback!
by gumbeaux13 - 6/3/05 8:33 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My only suggestion is McAfee over Norton but that's from personal experience. Some people prefer Norton but I feel it's inferior to McAfee, both of which aren't as good as the FREE ZoneAlarm!
Thanks for the response.
Firewalls Suck!
by diecastjunkie - 6/3/05 9:03 AM In reply to: 6/3/05 Is a firewall absolutely necessary? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have had two tries at using them and I say they suck! The first one was by Symantec (Norton) and it froze my computer up constantly and prevented me from many web sites. It seemed to interfere with a lot of programs so I unistalled it. Much too aggressive and even when I adjusted it to a weak setting. The other was a McAfee and it was not quite as bad but still I had the same problems as with the Norton version. I have talked to many of my buddies who are very computer savy and they say you do not need one. I do not like them at all.
OMG
by SmokieUK - 6/3/05 9:25 AM In reply to: Firewalls Suck! by diecastjunkieHave you not read ANY of the honourable answers in this thread? Any ''computer-savy'' person would not tell you that you don't need a firewall.
So you try two different firewalls, have a bad experience and then give up? They're not the only two available you know. Try Zonealarm as mentioned here.
You sound like the type of person who says ''well there's nothing on my PC worth seeing so I don't care''. What you don't understand is that's not the only reason hackers/crackers will want access to your PC. I'm not going to waste my time typing out the reasons, READ the main answer of this thread and find out.
What I will say though, is, do you get SPAM in your e-mail? Most of it comes from computers like yours -- connected to the Internet without a firewall.
Thats right........
by HerbiHind - 6/3/05 3:54 PM In reply to: OMG by SmokieUKAnother FREE and easy to use firewall that I have been using now for several months is called "SafetyNet" by NetVeda.
Their link: http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm
I have not had any problems with it and personally like it better then ZoneAlarm. It too passed all the test at grc.com
Not all of them do....
by James Woody - 6/3/05 10:05 AM In reply to: Firewalls Suck! by diecastjunkieI use the personal firewall from Tiny Software that works just great and does not stop me from doing anything. It just does it's job and only lets me know when something 'abnormal' tries to happen.
Is it free though?
by HerbiHind - 6/4/05 7:51 PM In reply to: Not all of them do.... by James WoodyGot to make sure it is a FREE firewall.........
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