Firewalls etc.

[ascotta]

I am not entirely sure if this is the right forum. However I will give it a shot.

I am getting Broadband installed at home on Monday. Now I have just persuaded Mrs Ascotta that this is good. She will not be wanting to spend any more money than is necesarry.

What is the minimum I need to do to secure house PC. I have currently barreed all incoming with the windows firewall, but I suspect as much use as ashtrays for motorbikes when always on.

It is BTBroadBand by the way.

Sorry if this is the wrong forum.

[blue]Arguably the best cat skinner around ! [/blue]

Cheers
Scott

 

[eyec]

personally, i use a third party firewall (Zone Alarm) and a virus scanning software (AVG). i have used this combination for a couple of years and have not been swamped with spam or viri.

the MS firewall requires that you manage all of your ports and takes some time to set up, but if done correctly it works. but like anything MS it is always the target of hackers, that is why i use ZA.

good luck

 

[greyted]

If it is for a sofware firewall you have Zonealarm, Kerio, Outpost or Sygate.

See here:

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?act=ST&f=29&t=3642&st=

My personal preference is Kerio 2.15.

http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

http://download.kerio.com/dwn/kpf/kerio-pf-2.1.5-en-win.exe

Ted

"The difference between a misfortune and a calamity is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity."
Benjamin Disraeli.

 

[dagger2002]

I would run the following programs on my system. i run all three and my machine is on da net 24/7:

Firefox:

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

A browser that is alot better then IE

Spybots- Search and destroy

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

An excellant program for spyware deletion. also is a must have.

Zonealarm

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp

A great firewall also if you want the pro version is 20 bucks and is a little better. But they have a free version that works great.

I also run a couple other apps that are great.
You can get the programs from the above links or here

http://www.g4techtv.com/screensavers/features/48038/MustHave_Apps_For_Your_New_PC.html

.

 

[ascotta]

Thanks guys. I will be looking over the weekend.

dagger2002 I have tried mozilla and it was truly awful. But I left IE on too.

[blue]Arguably the best cat skinner around ! [/blue]

Cheers
Scott

 

[tazuk]

Don't forget SpywareBlaster ascotta. It stops the more common spyware infections installing in the first place without any system overhead.

HTH.

TazUk

Blue-screening PCs since 1998

 

[sysadminguru]

AVG offers a free anti virus

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

 

[eyec]

Spybot Search & Destroy is another tool i run. others are available but at some point i either go with what i know, until i get whacked or someone recommends something better and i try it.

so far, so good!

 

[sleipnir214]

One tool I've found to be useful is Webroot's SpySweeper. It has all the standard stuff with sweeping a system for hostile code but it also includes a watch over certain system facilities. Any time, for example, that a change is made to my IE home page, my IE favorite pages, my hosts file, or any part of the registry that will autostart software, SpySweeper lets me know.


Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[CobolKid]

Another good tool; "HijackThis" available at spywareinfo.com
This little gem provides an easy mechanisum to thwart hijacks and kill other hidden dangers.