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View Full Version : Reminder: A firewall is a must.



Triune
14-02-2004, 02:31 PM
Just a reminder to install a personal firewall on your machine (unless you have a hardware one of course).

You should have one installed anyway, but even more so with an always on connection. If you don't, it is just a matter of time before you run into problems.

You can download the Sygate Personal Firewall for free, for home use. It was recommended to me recently. They won a bunch of awards last year from PC Magazine, PC World, etc.
http://smb.sygate.com/


.--- . ... ..- ... / .-.. --- ...- . ... / -.-- --- ..-
Ro:10:9 - If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

LoneGunman
14-02-2004, 11:45 PM
Just to add to the Sygate thing above, a firewall, once you're on perm - is a necessity, now every lil geek with a couple of toolz, can find you and pass away the time sniffing at your PC..
I tend to use Zone Alarm Pro - the freebie version is available for download from
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?lid=db2_free

Claymore
15-02-2004, 09:24 AM
I'm on the Sygate one - it works superbly. I've used Kerio too, nbut it's rather unstable.

LoneGunman
15-02-2004, 10:39 AM
There's also a Macafee and a Norton-based firewall, but I dont know how good they are..

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who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?"
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Karnaugh
15-02-2004, 11:32 AM
I'd personaly recommend Zone Alarm, and Tiny Personal Firewall (http://www.tinysoftware.com)

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

BTTB
15-02-2004, 11:41 AM
I am using Zone Alarm on 2 of my PC's. And on 2 others Im using the updated built in Firewall that forms part of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. The new XP Firewall interface is much better than previous versions and is enabled by default on a new installation.

<b><hr noshade size="1"></b><font size="2"><font color="red"><b>You can take Telkom out of the Post Office but you can't take the Post Office out of Telkom.</b></font id="red"></font id="size2">

Triune
15-02-2004, 10:29 PM
I've used ZoneAlarm before, and Tiny Personal Firewall. Both work well. I had some software compatibility issues with ZoneAlarm - but that was about 1 and a half years ago.

I am currently using Sygate as indicated above, and can recommend it. It is simple to use but also allows you to set very detailed rules if you want to.

On another note, they also provide a security test web page that will scan your machine for vulnerabilities, and they also scan for about 170 ports used by trojans. http://scan.sygate.com/prescanfaq.html


.--- . ... ..- ... / .-.. --- ...- . ... / -.-- --- ..-
Ro:10:9 - If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Gallderhen
16-02-2004, 09:13 AM
Also, you will now be able to schedule daily updates and scans for your antivirus programs (since your PC *is* on 24/7).

-G-

Claymore
17-02-2004, 08:05 AM
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Gallderhen</i>
<br />Also, you will now be able to schedule daily updates and scans for your antivirus programs (since your PC *is* on 24/7).

-G-
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I'm using Avast!, thich is really good. I don't know how often it checks, but it's always up to date. One very useful thing: it downloads incremental updates, so instead of 1MB or 2MB updates, they're 20k or 40k.

neobyte
17-02-2004, 10:05 AM
I tend to use ZoneAlarm...

I tried Norton Personal Firewall once, the version that came with the Telkom ADSL CD. All I can say is that all I had with it was problems. It also tends to be relatively processor hungry and the version that was with the CD was severely bugged.

I've also tried Sygate as well. I believe it is on a par with ZoneAlarm. I have not had any big hits since using ZoneAlarm.

Just to reinforce, Lonegunman the fact that you must have a firewall with a permanent internet connection.

Karnaugh
17-02-2004, 12:27 PM
well to reinforce, you *must* have a firewall on *any* internet connection.

<hr noshade size="1">
"Since light travels faster than sound, people appear bright until you hear them speak."

NetLink Research

flashvc
17-02-2004, 12:39 PM
I use a linux boxlet to do my network firewalling, but I do run a personal firewall on my PC when booted in Windows to prevent scaley programs from sending out stuff without my knowledge.

I've been using Zone Alarm Pro for that for a long time now, and I must admit, after trying out Sygate the other day, I'm converting...

Sygate's got driver level access control, which is MUCH better than what Zone Alarm offers [:)]

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herbs
17-02-2004, 12:47 PM
Howdy

could all the MYWireless and VSTAR jockeys please follow the darwing and see if you have something similar and could you relate to us ease of installation / routine:



VSTAR ---- |Linux Firewall| ---- |Hub/Switch| ---- |LAN|

MyWireless ---- |Linux Firewall| ---- |Hub/Switch| ---- |LAN|

By Linux Firewall I mean a two ethernet interface, NATting, possibly proxying.

IP Config:

VSTAR or My Wireless:

DHCP or 192.168.0.1
SNM:255.255.255.0

DNS #1
DNS #1

Firewall (outside interface)

192.168.0.2 or DHCP
SNM: 255.255.255.0

DNS #1
DNS #2

Firewall (LAN / Internal interface)

10.10.10.1
SNM: 255.255.255.0


Thanks Guys,
Herbs

beerygaz
17-02-2004, 02:00 PM
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by herbs</i>
<br />Howdy

could all the MYWireless and VSTAR jockeys please follow the darwing and see if you have something similar and could you relate to us ease of installation / routine:
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

About to have exactlythat setup as soon as I get my Ethernet cable from SlowComm.

[MyWi] ---&gt; [Linux f/w] --&gt; [Switch] --&gt; [PC]
And
[Switch] --&gt; [WiFi AP] --&gt; [Laptops & PDA's]

Will let you know how it goes.