firewall - hardware, software, or both ? 2

[abacuscorp]

good day all -

Several weeks ago I installed a cable modem to speed internet access. I also went to AOL 9.0 at about the same time. They had a trial download of Mcafee firewall that I downloaded. It slowed down my PC to a point where it was almost usless and I uninstalled it.

I went and bought Norton Internet Security and found it also slowed down the machine but not as much. Aside from the slowness it also tells me each and every time it discovers something with a pop-up that must be answered. The other day my wife had to click OK over a 100 times before she could use the PC. I guess there is no "OK to all". The type in the manual that came with Norton is so small I can hardly read it. Their website wasn't any help either. I don't care what it finds, I just want it to not let it effect me.

A friend sugested a hardware firewall instead of Norton. Does anyone have any advice/suggestions? Thank you.

Warren

 

[FaiTHLeSS]

I would just get a router and hook it upto your cable modem. Most routers come with a firewall and built in packet filtering nowadays and are fairly cheap. Will also allow you to share your connection between more than 1 computer.

Try

http://www.3com.com

http://www.netgear.com

There are many others to.

 

[viol8ion]

ZonelAlarm is a decent free client side firewall, but your best bet is to buy a router. I use a LinkSys and it works great. less than $80 for a 4 port model, I have 3 computers hooked up to mine on the same modem connection. For less than $50 you can get one for a single PC. Shop around.

When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com

 

[vop]

HARDWARE FIREWALLS:

INCOMING: Hardware firewalls (often in the form of a router) are very effective against incoming traffic. They work very well when configured correctly (and behave consistently largely due to their general inaccessibility). Fortunately and unfortunately such devices are a bit beyond the knowledge and ability of the average computer user.

Accordingly, there is a lot less for a software firewall to do (and more consistency) – you can then more safely rely on software to control the very less prevalent outgoing traffic attempts.


SOFTWARE FIREWALLS:

INCOMING: Software firewalls are not as effective against people who are bound and determined to get into your PC. Hackers will continue to try to find new ways (and to exploit known vulnerabilities) to get into your computer. Accordingly, it becomes very necessary to keep your defensive measures up to date with the latest releases and patches to control inappropriate access to or from your computer.

OUTGOING: Software firewalls can be very effective against unauthorized outgoing traffic. The general default is to allow no outgoing traffic.



However, one of the biggest problems with software firewalls is that it often operates like a series of skill-testing questions (normally a pop-up window). Accordingly, this can lead to very inconsistent, sub optimal, and unpredictable human behavior.

UNINFORMED CHOICES: Many users cannot typically be expected to recognize the name or purpose significance of any given process that requests access to the Internet.

NEEDED?: Accordingly, a user can mistakenly tell the firewall not to allow access to something useful or critical that they need for the health of their computer.

DANGEROUS?: Then there is the problem of mistakenly allowing access to something very undesirable, dangerous or suspect.

PERSISTANCE: If a user is constantly being asked to approve or deny various programs, frustration can often win out and the "allow" button seriously starts to diminish the firewall's effectiveness.

WEAKEST LINK: Access to and by multiple users on a given machine increases the likelihood that someone will eventually allow a given request.