I just saw a Cnet article and video on the D-Link Securespot. Looks
marvelous!!

http://www.dlink.com/products/securespot/

http://www.cnet.com/4831-11405_1-6412641.html?tag=txt

http://reviews.cnet.com/D_Link_Secur...7-6414579.html

If it works as advertised, it looks like a quantum leap forward in
cost-effectiveness for us home-networkers. I have three desktops
upstairs, and a roaming notebook,... all on a wired/wireless Netgear
network. All the computers use XP, with one of them an XP MCE.

I sure like the idea of getting all the speed-reducing
anti-virus/anti-pop-up/anti-spyware/etc. crap removed from each
computer AND adding network protection as well.

The only prob I see is for when I take the notebook traveling. I guess
I'll have to load something on it for those situations. Maybe before
each trip (only a few each year) I'll just load on 30-day trials of
zone-lab/symantec/pcccillin/mcafee/etc.

;-)

.... or just use one of the good free packages.

Anyway, the D-Link Securespot seems to be quite an improvement. Are
there any competitors with this type of solution?

Are any of you using this thing?

That looks promising for the home user. The price point seems to be quite
good as well. Enterprise environments have used similar devices for quite
some time-albeit a bit more expensive.

I would suggest NOT removing the antivirus/antispyware software from your PC
though. There is no such thing as a totally foolproof method and to rely on
this device exclusively would be a mistake.

It is an excellent way to add an extra layer of security for very little
money.

"Lew" wrote:

> I just saw a Cnet article and video on the D-Link Securespot. Looks
> marvelous!!
>
> http://www.dlink.com/products/securespot/
>
> http://www.cnet.com/4831-11405_1-6412641.html?tag=txt
>
> http://reviews.cnet.com/D_Link_Secur...7-6414579.html
>
> If it works as advertised, it looks like a quantum leap forward in
> cost-effectiveness for us home-networkers. I have three desktops
> upstairs, and a roaming notebook,... all on a wired/wireless Netgear
> network. All the computers use XP, with one of them an XP MCE.
>
> I sure like the idea of getting all the speed-reducing
> anti-virus/anti-pop-up/anti-spyware/etc. crap removed from each
> computer AND adding network protection as well.
>
> The only prob I see is for when I take the notebook traveling. I guess
> I'll have to load something on it for those situations. Maybe before
> each trip (only a few each year) I'll just load on 30-day trials of
> zone-lab/symantec/pcccillin/mcafee/etc.
>
> ;-)
>
> .... or just use one of the good free packages.
>
> Anyway, the D-Link Securespot seems to be quite an improvement. Are
> there any competitors with this type of solution?
>
> Are any of you using this thing?
>
>

I was really liking the idea, though, of taking the
Norton/McAfee/PCcillin stuff off my various computers. The Norton
stuff, especially, seems to slow the computer down a lot.

I have two computers side by side upstairs. The new one is an HP
m7250n Media Center (2.8) model with the Norton suite (90-day trial)
already installed. The older computer is a Gateway (1.6) with a fresh
load of XP Home edition. Surfing was noticeably faster with the older
Gateway than with the new HP until I installed a McAfee suite on it.
Now the older Gateway slowed down to being just a little faster,... not
by much though. They are both roughly the same surfing speed as my
really old HP P-III 500mhz machine with PCcillin on it. It was really
nice for a day or so surfing with the Gateway with no antivirus stuff
at all,.... click click click and the webpages just changed lickety
split.

I was hoping when I spent the big bucks on a brand new computer that I
would reduce the frustration of having to wait and wait and wait for IE
to load new web pages.

I use a local service for my ISP -- Newnan Utilities. It is, in
effect, a big LAN with several thousand users. It has some protection
built in. Windows has a firewall. Wouldn't the D-Link Securespot be
enough additional protection?

Anyway, besides the lower overall cost, I was hoping to get all the
onerous anti-this anti-that packages off of the individual computers in
the hope of speeding them up a bit.

I like the idea, too, about not having all that gaarrrrbaaajjj on my
computers!!

D-Link is saying they will start shipping the SecureSpot in about 3
weeks, so no one has had a chance yet to try it out in real life.

Hopefully, in a month or two, we'll have some Google Group traffic on
how it is going.

I wonder who is going to carry the thing. Best Buy? Circuit City?
Amazon?

Lew

On 21 Feb 2006 08:53:18 -0800, "Lew" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I just saw a Cnet article and video on the D-Link Securespot. Looks
>marvelous!!
>
>http://www.dlink.com/products/securespot/
>
>http://www.cnet.com/4831-11405_1-6412641.html?tag=txt
>
>http://reviews.cnet.com/D_Link_Secur...7-6414579.html
>
>If it works as advertised, it looks like a quantum leap forward in
>cost-effectiveness for us home-networkers. I have three desktops
>upstairs, and a roaming notebook,... all on a wired/wireless Netgear
>network. All the computers use XP, with one of them an XP MCE.
>
>I sure like the idea of getting all the speed-reducing
>anti-virus/anti-pop-up/anti-spyware/etc. crap removed from each
>computer AND adding network protection as well.
>
>The only prob I see is for when I take the notebook traveling. I guess
>I'll have to load something on it for those situations. Maybe before
>each trip (only a few each year) I'll just load on 30-day trials of
>zone-lab/symantec/pcccillin/mcafee/etc.
>
>;-)
>
>... or just use one of the good free packages.
>
>Anyway, the D-Link Securespot seems to be quite an improvement. Are
>there any competitors with this type of solution?
>
>Are any of you using this thing?

Price starts at $100 for 4 computers, $20 for each computer over 4. That's for
the first year. Subscription renewal $80 / year.

And a "thin client" (ie proprietary software) required on each computer.

It sits between your cable modem and your router. I wonder how well this will
work with NAT? Maybe pretty well for web surfing, but how about server apps,
like games, IM, or P2P?

Now to granularity of filtering. One product, filtering adware, spyware,
viruses? Blocking spam (compatible with what email front end programs)? I
presume it will use signatures (or what does the $80 / year pay for), so how
often will it get signature updates? I wonder if part of its functionality will
be aggregate spam analysis with other boxes elsewhere?

And will this truly filter every trojan from every website? If one trojan gets
thru, and infects just one computer, what protects all of the other computers in
the SecureSpot LAN? I don't think I'd get rid of any of my individual
protection any time soon.

Security needs are individual, for every computer in the world, according to
every possible combination of each application used on each individual computer.
Will the SecureSpot be capable of being that versatile, with no false positives,
and no false negatives?

Filtering enterprise businesses, with Corporate Security Policies, may be one
thing. Effectively filtering domestic LANs, with an infinite variety of
applications, may be something else.

I'll enjoy watching this. You guys can report on it.

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.