Antivirus and Firewall Protection

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hhvoeqewvvot

Viruses are small files that attach to emails or downloads and infect
your computer which is why you need virus protection. They can be as
harmless as displaying funny pictures on your monitor or they can go
through your address book and send everyone within your address book
the same virus. More dangerous versions can completely wipeout your
computer and all your information and some can take over your machine
and send spam from your computer. Without your knowledge, you can
become a spammer. Virus protection saves you from virus problems.
Hackers are the underbelly of the internet. They are people who
randomly scan the internet to find "openings" so they can go in and
snoop around. Once into your machine, they have as much access to it as
you do. That means your online banking, personal data, family data .
are all available to a hacker. Hacker security is your safety net when
surfing.
The Shield Pro 2006 gives you both virus protection and hacker security
by providing ongoing support and updates. When a virus breaks out, The
Shield Pro 2006 will provide a patch within 2-3 hours and a fix for the
virus within 5 hours. You can set you computer to update viruses weekly
and run a complete virus scan. Virus protection is a must and no one
with internet access should surf without it.
http://firewallhjsv.blogspot.com/#firewall
 
I need a very good free firewall to stop from spyware/virus attacts. What is
the best?

Thx
 
Malke said:
(e-mail address removed) wrote:

spam, spam, spam, and spam

Malke
Click to expand...


And from someone who clearly has no idea what a virus really is, so he
incorrectly lumps several different types of malware into a single
category. Clearly not someone whose product recommendations should be
followed.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Questioner said:
I need a very good free firewall to stop from spyware/virus attacts. What is
the best?

Thx
Click to expand...


That's not really what a firewall is intended to do.

You'll get nearly as many differing opinions as you will responses.

I don't think any security "suite" is a good choice. Use smaller,
less-resource-draining stand-alone products.

I used, and recommended, Norton Antivirus and then Norton Internet
Security, for many years, on Win98, WinNT, Win2K, and WinXP, all without
any significant problems. I had used McAfee prior to that. But it's
been several years since I've been tempted to try McAfee products. Their
quality seemed to take a steep nose-dive after they were acquired by
Network Associates.

However, when my subscription to Symantec's updates for Norton
Internet Security 2002 came up for renewal (at a cost substantially
higher than the preceding year's subscription), I decided to try less
expensive solutions. Also, because Symantec only supports a product
version for a couple of years before trying to force customers to buy an
entirely new version, I downloaded and installed the free version of
GriSoft's AVG (http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php ) and the free
version of Sygate's Personal Firewall
(http://smb.sygate.com/free/default.php ). Both have proven to be
easily installed, easy to use, and quite effective. Additionally, I was
pleasantly surprised to see a small but very noticeable improvement in
my PC's performance, once I'd replaced the Symantec product.

Of course, since then, Symantec has purchased Sygate and ended the
distribution of the free firewall. Fortunately, there's still
ZoneAlarm, Tiny, Kerio, et al.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Bruce Chambers wrote:
the free
version of Sygate's Personal Firewall
(http://smb.sygate.com/free/default.php ).
Click to expand...

From that url:

"Thank you for visiting the Sygate Online Store!

Important Notice: Effective November 30th, 2005 all Sygate personal
firewall products will be discontinued. This does not affect Sygate's
Enterprise firewall and endpoint compliance products, which will still
be updated and supported."

Not free any more now that Symantec has gobbled it up.

That page does offer you a bunch of Symantec suites and stuff but no
freebies that I could find. I take it you haven't been there in awhile,
Bruce.

Alias
 
Alias said:
From that url:

"Thank you for visiting the Sygate Online Store!

Important Notice: Effective November 30th, 2005 all Sygate personal
firewall products will be discontinued. This does not affect Sygate's
Enterprise firewall and endpoint compliance products, which will still
be updated and supported."

Not free any more now that Symantec has gobbled it up.

That page does offer you a bunch of Symantec suites and stuff but no
freebies that I could find. I take it you haven't been there in awhile,
Bruce.

Alias
Click to expand...


You clearly didn't read my entire post, did you? I repeat the final
paragraph:

"Of course, since then, Symantec has purchased Sygate and ended the
distribution of the free firewall. Fortunately, there's still
ZoneAlarm, Tiny, Kerio, et al."


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Bruce said:
You clearly didn't read my entire post, did you? I repeat the final
paragraph:

"Of course, since then, Symantec has purchased Sygate and ended the
distribution of the free firewall. Fortunately, there's still
ZoneAlarm, Tiny, Kerio, et al."
Click to expand...

Yeah, I did miss that. Must have been a senior moment. My apologies.

Cody
 
Note that firewalls DO NOT STOP SPYWARE OR VIRUES.
Click to expand...

Firewalls, not NAT routers, often contain Proxy services that can remove
content from HTTP and SMTP sessions - this means that you can remove
malware directly from the paths that commonly allow users to compromise
their systems.

So, Firewalls can stop spyware, viruses, malware of all types, but you
have to purchase a Quality firewall for this to protect you.
 
However, when my subscription to Symantec's updates for Norton
Internet Security 2002 came up for renewal (at a cost substantially
higher than the preceding year's subscription), I decided to try less
expensive solutions.
Click to expand...

Bruce, and others. If you are using Norton or McAfee AV products, but
find the yearly fee for renewing the definition updates to be onerous,
to the point where you are contemplating a free product, let me offer a
money-saving suggestion.

Periodically, generally on major holiday weekends, the big box stores
like CompUSA, Office Depot, Staples and Office Max run ads offering
those two vendors' products as FREE (after rebates). Takes 3-4 weeks
to get the rebate, but, for the cost of the tax on the original
purchase and postage to send in the box tops, you end up with a fresh
copy of the AV, which includes a year's subscription to the updates. I
will keep those vendor's products installed, as long as these cheap
update deals last. Though I've never had a need for it, I like the
'implied' support included with their products.

When you're living on a fixed income, you start figuring stuff like
this out and looking for the deals. Incidently, any product that has
the AV component included, works. Just install the new AV and deep six
the other stuff, if you don't want it. I personally like Symantec's
SystemWorks.

Now firewalls, that's a different story. I've used Zone Alarm's free
version on a 98 machine for years. Easy to setup, never had a problem.
However, I got enthused reading these forums and decided to put ZA on
my XP Pro machine and turn off the MS firewall. What a disaster.
These guys took a good, easy-to-use product and created the equivalent
of software erector set. Checked in to their forum and saw a lot of
questions about all those 'rules' that users are required to construct
to let XP run and enable apps like Outlook to get email, etc.. That
may be fine for those who just like the challenge of getting their PC
to boot, but for those of us who use their PC to do real work and would
like ti to be more of an appliance, versus a work-in-progress, ZA is
now a pain.

I am curious, do you, or anyone else, know of a site that explains the
ZA setup for XP in layman's terms? On the ZA forum, Don Hoover
explains things in a short-handed style that assumes the listener is an
accomplished C++ coder, or such. Any other firewalls that are simpler,
ie. PnP variety, but still as effective for controlling both the in and
out bound stuff?

Thanks Bruce, sorry if I vented there, just frustrated when a vendor
sabatoges their own product.
 
I am no expert but I disagree with you on the "new" ZoneAlarm
I too have used the product since '98 at first the free version but now the
bought version.
I have created a network of 4 computers with 2 of them wireless,this
entailed setting up ZA to allow all Systems
to see the others as well as Outlook Express with MailWasher and entering a
Java Enabled purchasing system.
I still find ZA to be fairly easy to setup to allow all of this.A lot of the
rules where created automatically without any problems.
There is an occassional hiccup where it will ask for permission before my
Anti Virus can update itself but other than that its been problem free.
peter
 
Viruses are small files that attach to emails or downloads and infect
your computer which is why you need virus protection. They can be as
harmless as displaying funny pictures on your monitor or they can go
through your address book and send everyone within your address book
the same virus. More dangerous versions can completely wipeout your
computer and all your information and some can take over your machine
and send spam from your computer. Without your knowledge, you can
become a spammer. Virus protection saves you from virus problems.
Hackers are the underbelly of the internet. They are people who
randomly scan the internet to find "openings" so they can go in and
snoop around. Once into your machine, they have as much access to it as
you do. That means your online banking, personal data, family data .
are all available to a hacker. Hacker security is your safety net when
surfing.
The Shield Pro 2006 gives you both virus protection and hacker security
by providing ongoing support and updates. When a virus breaks out, The
Shield Pro 2006 will provide a patch within 2-3 hours and a fix for the
virus within 5 hours. You can set you computer to update viruses weekly
and run a complete virus scan. Virus protection is a must and no one
with internet access should surf without it.
http://firewallhjsv.blogspot.com/#firewall
Click to expand...


PLEASE, Sir (or Madame), learn to organize your thoughts using small,
concise paragraphs, rather than long series of thoughts strung
together in a single paragraph.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original newsgroup and thread,
so that the conversation may continue undisturbed.
=========================================================
 
I am no expert but I disagree with you on the "new" ZoneAlarm

Peter,

You, my friend, are more of an expert than you will admit. Getting a
network like that set up and running, with or without ZA, is quite an
accomplishment.

My problem with ZA is that it appears I have to allow several of the XP
functions to have Server status in order for them to operate. I recall
being told not to enable anything as a Server. If this has changed
with XP, I would like to know where I could find out which XP functions
(and other software apps) require (and it is safe to grant) Server
status (Trusted and/or Internet zones) in order for them to do their
thing. The ZA frorum talks about creating rules and other stuff that I
really don't want to mess with. Just want to tick some boxes and be
done with it.

If you could give me some guidance in that regard, I would appreciate
it (and may change my opinion of ZA).

Thanks.
 
Hello,

If you "just want to tick somes boxes" and have a secure system, I suggest switching to Apple..
 
When I first install ZA it configures itself.........but I still go to
Program Control and delete everything I do not recognize as well as programs
that I know really do not need Internet acces.There is no harm in deleting
it just rebuilds itself as you use it.
Then I set ZA to notify me if any programs try to access the net and ask me
for permission first.
I have a few setup for server status......AntiVirus updates......antispy
updates........etc but most of them are for Trusted(Local network) not
Internet
You can take away their server status and see what happens.........any that
need it will require ZA to ask you first.If your not sure of the program do
a google search for it and you will get an explanation of what it is and
does.
like I said I am no expert....most of this has been through trial and error.
peter
 
like I said I am no expert....most of this has been through trial and error.

Thanks again Peter. Guess I'll muddle through this one too.
 
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