so what's the best firewall software?


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I've found that Norton 2002 does the best job. But your best bet would be to get a router with a hardware firewall. I've found those block more than I want...like personal ftp servers, etc.

foo

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1. Routers only have inbound protection but do a better job at what they do.

2. use tiny, sygate, or zonealarm and make sure you set it high for outbound protection as well.

3. newer trojans can send by piggybacking because permission has been allowed instead of leaving always ask set. This is convienent but not as safe.

Example: You always use IE6 to surf so you just grant it "always access" which means the firewall won't ask it just allows IE6 access. If you leave all your apps set at "always ask" then you will have to click yes everytime IE6 wants access. THIS BLOCKS SMART TROJANS....and there getting better all the time.

From what I've read MD5 isn't fool proof to stop this....and there is a test utility I'll try to dig up.

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I just don't use a firewall. I had cable for 6 years in Canada, never had a problem with any sort of hacking (and god knows how much time i spend on IRC) or any kind of tcp/upd/sync floods. I have DSL here in France and samething. I just make sure my AV is up to date, that i have the latest hotfixes and that's it. I'm not paranoid, i don't have any Secret Service documents on my computer :D

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'1. Routers only have inbound protection but do a better job at what they do. '

Erm well i think the point is most people are using the term router in place of the term firewall, which isn't strictly true, a firewall is an intellegent router. So in the case of a hardware firewall, it has both in and out bound protection.

Jon

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What router model has inbound and outbound protection, and how much do you have to spend for it ?

I got a D-link 704 for free after rebate so it was a no brainer. It has a firewall but only an inbound version.

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Originally posted by Jon

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by Arcane

U DON'T NEED A ****IN FIREWALL

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>Actually yes, it's a good idea sir spelling.

Erm actually I'd more than happily sit and argue the pros and cons of 'personal firewalls' with you.

75% of people who use them dont need them, and dont even know *why* they use them.

The following two things negate the need for a personal firewall

1) Good, uptodate AntiVirus software

2) Sensible patching of any services

3) Common Sense

4) The ability to count to 2 ;)

Show me a *threat*, not an annoyance (adwear etc), that wont be stopped then.

However, I'd always recommend anyone with a static IP used some kind of firewall, but preferably a second box using NAT.

Software firewall running on an actively-used-box will be circumventable, its totally common sense.

Argue it with me, go on. I dare ya.

Jon

:old:

man, i wish you were around when whole dslreports started attacking me when i said almost exactly same things as above :)

i also said that instead of firewall you'd be better off running IDS.

good to see some actualy educated people here..no paranoid zombies who blindly trust GRC and run think that ZAP is their holy saiver ;)

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I'm using Norton Personal Firewall 2k2 on WinXP. I actually like it and have found it usefull especially now that I'm on a cable connection with a semi-static IP (new IP every 2 weeks). In the past, when my IP was static, I had a few situations where some idiot tryed to hack me and another idiot failed to hit me successfully with a DoS attack (ping-of-death). I had a better machine and more bandwidth than he. He ended up crashing before I did. I think he was attacking from a 56K or ISDN connection.

Note: If you are going to perform a DoS attack, make sure you have more bandwidth than the other guy. Example, it took a number of computers to take down Yahoo! Who in there right mind would spend the time and resources to take down Yahoo. You could be using that same time and resources to do other usefull things on the Internet (like taking down M$) ;)

Here are the results URLs of some tests I ran:

http://www.dslreports.com/scan/f636b3d3d18...53efd3ec8af8f1e

http://security1.norton.com/ssc/sc_results...&cv02=13&pi03=1

http://security1.norton.com/ssc/sc_TCPScan...AFRBWQAMUJBJIDV

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If you're not an absolute Beginner, got Basic TCP/IP Knowledge, then Tiny Personal Firewall would be the best Win32 FW

you could get (and for FREE!). Otherwise, stick with ZA(P),

but it's Crap for me. NPF/NIS eats up *heavy* Systemressources, it's a Bummer. Also, Look'N'Stop is good one. :)

Running TPF 2.0 since 1st Beta so long.

neo

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