help with firewall for older Windows98

H

Hank

Have a 75 year old widow that mainly does a little email and church
work using my old Windows98 computer. Does not have the money to
upgrade or get a new computer. There was little need for a firewall in
the past because of the little usage and she was on a dial-up
connection. Now she has moved to the Senior citizen home and has a new
DSL connection. Again with little usage risk would not be high except
that she uses Yahoo for her email. It is the only one she seems
comfortable with and have been unable to retrain her. Being online
while she composes messages and the slow operation of Yahoo, even on a
DSl, risks have gone up. I did a Google search for a "free" firewall
that operates on Windows98. I was only able to find one that mentioned
Windows98. I downloaded jpf2setup.exe for her but when I tried to
install it got message "this version of windows is not supported".

Anyone able to steer me to a free firewall that will operate with
windows98?
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
 
T

TaurArian

| Have a 75 year old widow that mainly does a little email and church
| work using my old Windows98 computer. Does not have the money to
| upgrade or get a new computer. There was little need for a firewall in
| the past because of the little usage and she was on a dial-up
| connection. Now she has moved to the Senior citizen home and has a new
| DSL connection. Again with little usage risk would not be high except
| that she uses Yahoo for her email. It is the only one she seems
| comfortable with and have been unable to retrain her. Being online
| while she composes messages and the slow operation of Yahoo, even on a
| DSl, risks have gone up. I did a Google search for a "free" firewall
| that operates on Windows98. I was only able to find one that mentioned
| Windows98. I downloaded jpf2setup.exe for her but when I tried to
| install it got message "this version of windows is not supported".
|
| Anyone able to steer me to a free firewall that will operate with
| windows98?
| email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
| TIA
| Hank

Xposted to the Windows 98 Newsgroup, perhaps someone there will have a suggestion.
K
 
G

glee

TaurArian said:
| Have a 75 year old widow that mainly does a little email and church
| work using my old Windows98 computer. Does not have the money to
| upgrade or get a new computer. There was little need for a firewall in
| the past because of the little usage and she was on a dial-up
| connection. Now she has moved to the Senior citizen home and has a new
| DSL connection. Again with little usage risk would not be high except
| that she uses Yahoo for her email. It is the only one she seems
| comfortable with and have been unable to retrain her. Being online
| while she composes messages and the slow operation of Yahoo, even on a
| DSl, risks have gone up. I did a Google search for a "free" firewall
| that operates on Windows98. I was only able to find one that mentioned
| Windows98. I downloaded jpf2setup.exe for her but when I tried to
| install it got message "this version of windows is not supported".
|
| Anyone able to steer me to a free firewall that will operate with
| windows98?
| email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
| TIA
| Hank
Click to expand...

If she is on DSL at a senior citizen home, chances are since they are setting up
multiple connections they are using a router. If that router, like most, is using
Network Address Translation (NAT), there is already a good amount of protection
without a software firewall, and it is very likely all she will need.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/nat.htm

Check if the home is using a router and if it is a NAT router. If so, just
configure her with a good anti-virus (Avast is a good free one), SpywareBlaster, and
Comodo BOClean.

If somehow there is no router involved, then I concur with Alan Edwards and suggest
the old Kerio firewall. The problem with software firewalls is the extended
configuration needed during the learning period. Often the user does not know what
to reply to the prompts, and allows too many things, rendering the firewall useless.
 
G

glee

glee said:
snip
If somehow there is no router involved, then I concur with Alan Edwards and
suggest the old Kerio firewall.
Click to expand...

Duh! I meant, I concur with Alan and suggest the old *Tiny* firewall.... although
the old Kerio firewall will also work (v.2.1.5). I used Tiny on Win95 and briefly
on Win98 and found it the easiest to configure.
 
E

Elmo

Hank said:
Have a 75 year old widow that mainly does a little email and church
work using my old Windows98 computer. Does not have the money to
upgrade or get a new computer. There was little need for a firewall in
the past because of the little usage and she was on a dial-up
connection. Now she has moved to the Senior citizen home and has a new
DSL connection. Again with little usage risk would not be high except
that she uses Yahoo for her email. It is the only one she seems
comfortable with and have been unable to retrain her. Being online
while she composes messages and the slow operation of Yahoo, even on a
DSL, risks have gone up. I did a Google search for a "free" firewall
that operates on Windows98. I was only able to find one that mentioned
Windows98. I downloaded jpf2setup.exe for her but when I tried to
install it got message "this version of windows is not supported".

Anyone able to steer me to a free firewall that will operate with
windows98?
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
Click to expand...

If you remove the "Client for Microsoft Networks" component, and disable
"File and Printer Sharing", I believe there are no ports open on a W98
machine. Test this at:

http://www.auditmypc.com/
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
http://www.hackerwatch.org/probe/

Removing the "Client for Microsoft Networks" can cause W98 to stop
remembering the password after some changes. Reinstall the component,
set the password, then remove the component again. All this is from
memory, but I believe it's accurate.
 
D

Dan

Alan and Glen have good advice. You could also go over to grc and use the
shields up test to see which ports are open on the computer. The ideal is
stealth rating followed by closed ports and then open ports which is bad and
will allow people to hack into your computer. The more information you
provide the better we can help you but be aware that I am sure hackers read
over information in the Microsoft Newsgroups as well so be careful with what
you tell us because others who may not have your best interests at heart
could be reading the text as well.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Have a 75 year old widow that mainly does a little email and church
work using my old Windows98 computer. Does not have the money to
upgrade or get a new computer. There was little need for a firewall in
the past because of the little usage and she was on a dial-up
connection. Now she has moved to the Senior citizen home and has a new
DSL connection. Again with little usage risk would not be high except
that she uses Yahoo for her email. It is the only one she seems
comfortable with and have been unable to retrain her. Being online
while she composes messages and the slow operation of Yahoo, even on a
DSl, risks have gone up. I did a Google search for a "free" firewall
that operates on Windows98. I was only able to find one that mentioned
Windows98. I downloaded jpf2setup.exe for her but when I tried to
install it got message "this version of windows is not supported".

Anyone able to steer me to a free firewall that will operate with
windows98?
Click to expand...


See the other responses you've gotten, especially Glee's. She's
probably behind a router and already protected.

I just wanted to comment on the sentence "There was little need for a
firewall in the past because of the little usage and she was on a
dial-up connection." I strongly disagree with that sentence. The
thought that dial-up doesn't need firewall protection is wrong. She is
just as likely to be attacked over dial-up as over an always-on
connection. Moreover, the thought that low usages takes away the
requirement for a firewall is also wrong. You don't hear much any more
about the Blaster and Sasser worms of a few years ago, but they are
still around, and it's possible to get infected by one of these within
a few seconds of going on-line unprotected. And there are other
threats beside these. In my view, everybody who goes on-line requires
firewall protection, regardless of for how long or over what kind of
connection.
 
H

Hank

Thanks Glee for response.
There is no router but your point about the complexity of using a
firewall really rings a bell. If I am having a problem getting her to
use a regular email package there is NO way she is going to be able to
effectively use a firewall.


If somehow there is no router involved, then I concur with Alan Edwards and suggest
the old Kerio firewall. The problem with software firewalls is the extended
configuration needed during the learning period. Often the user does not know what
to reply to the prompts, and allows too many things, rendering the firewall useless.
Click to expand...

email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
 
H

Hank

Thanks Elmo your solution sounded very good until I got to the part of
forgetting the password. She would not follow that and I would just be
making another visit to re-enter. Overall I guess the best thing to do
is let it rip. She has no sensitive files on the computer, she has an
antivirus with auto update. Would be let work for me.

If you remove the "Client for Microsoft Networks" component, and disable
"File and Printer Sharing", I believe there are no ports open on a W98
machine. Test this at:

http://www.auditmypc.com/
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
http://www.hackerwatch.org/probe/

Removing the "Client for Microsoft Networks" can cause W98 to stop
remembering the password after some changes. Reinstall the component,
set the password, then remove the component again. All this is from
memory, but I believe it's accurate.
Click to expand...

email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
 
T

thanatoid

| Have a 75 year old widow that mainly does a little email
| and church work using my old Windows98 computer. Does not
| have the money to upgrade or get a new computer. There was
| little need for a firewall in the past because of the
| little usage and she was on a dial-up connection. Now she
| has moved to the Senior citizen home and has a new DSL
| connection.
Click to expand...

Agnitum Outpost version 1. Free, runs on 95B so will most
certainly run on 98.

A 75 yr old person will probably NOT be able to set it up, but
neither would s/he be able to set up the others. It's not hard,
there are preset rules, you just have to tell it what programs
you will be using with the internet. Of course, you can do a lot
more.

I have probably tried all the FW's that run on 9x and this is
the best one. IMHO.

I don't know anything about DSL etc. so as someone said she may
not even need it at all. You should ask the "senior home"
network admin. what the deal is.
 
D

Dan

Thanks for your post, thanatoid. Do you by chance have a web-link that is
safe to use to download the Outpost software firewall?
 
M

MEB

Try one of the older rules based firewalls, and yes you need one despite
some who may say you don't; EVEN when using a NAT {Network Access
Translation}. The reason is its just as easy to send a
hack/crack/virus/Trojan/whatever through and have it attach its self to the
original IP address [highjack/piggybacked] or use its own established
connection, as it is without the NAT. A firewall monitors software and
whether its supposed to be running or accessing the Internet or your
network. If hardware devices were able to monitor software, they would be
*servers*, which no router or like device, or other non-server is...

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/nat.htm - How Network Address Translation
Works


--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________



|
| | | Have a 75 year old widow that mainly does a little email and church
| | work using my old Windows98 computer. Does not have the money to
| | upgrade or get a new computer. There was little need for a firewall in
| | the past because of the little usage and she was on a dial-up
| | connection. Now she has moved to the Senior citizen home and has a new
| | DSL connection. Again with little usage risk would not be high except
| | that she uses Yahoo for her email. It is the only one she seems
| | comfortable with and have been unable to retrain her. Being online
| | while she composes messages and the slow operation of Yahoo, even on a
| | DSl, risks have gone up. I did a Google search for a "free" firewall
| | that operates on Windows98. I was only able to find one that mentioned
| | Windows98. I downloaded jpf2setup.exe for her but when I tried to
| | install it got message "this version of windows is not supported".
| |
| | Anyone able to steer me to a free firewall that will operate with
| | windows98?
| | email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
| | TIA
| | Hank
|
| Xposted to the Windows 98 Newsgroup, perhaps someone there will have a
suggestion.
| K
|
|
 
D

Dan

Yeah, I know Google. Thanks anyway. I will search to see if it is available
within majorgeeks.com and also use siteadvisor to make sure the sites are
safe according to user feedback for IE and FF. Have a nice day.
 
T

thanatoid

Never tried to Google?

Look here:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=outpost+firewall+freewa
re&btnG=Search

Google is your friend.
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't reply, I have all posts from
discussions.microsoft.com kf'd so I am not even sure how I saw
your original post. I may have clicked on a reference in a reply
since I knew a good answer to this one.

Anyway, the above search is sure to find it.

Specifically,
http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=outfirewall

Don't worry about it being ver 1 or "old". There is no logical
reason to update firewalls, just like people who really know
what NOT to do on the internet don't /really/ even need AV
programs, but it's BIG business.

Good luck. If you have problems with setting it up (it's fairly
easy really and the help files are comprehensive and you can
Google for the terminology if something is not clear) you can
post again but try a different address if you want me to see it
:)
 
H

Hank

H

Hank

Thanks I downloaded the file and will see if it will do it.


I have been using Sygate personal firewalls on my Win98 single
machine for at least 5-Yrs. Started out just trying Sygate v 4.x
and after using all of the many updating versions I have ended up
using Sygate Pro v 5.5 build 2710. The Free Sygate v 5.5-2710
can be D/Led here:
http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=sygate
I certainly recommend this Sygate. After a little set-up
experience, you can control all in/out connections to internet.
Casey
Click to expand...

email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
 
G

glee

Good deal...at least for her. ;-)
There are myriad opinions about whether a firewall is needed or not.....you have
already seen some of them in this thread. I firmly believe a NAT router will be
sufficient for her needs, without having to add a software firewall. A large number
of networking specialists agree.
Good luck.
 

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