Firewall question

[Twayne]

Please provide technical & security related reasons for recommending
ZA and relevant statistics in relation to "...worth having for *most*
people".


Recommending ZA as an Internet Security application is gross
misinformation!


Which 3rd party software manufacturer do you represent?

You need to reread and try to find a recommendation there for ZA.
Perhaps you would have preferred if I listed every one I could think of
starting with Avira?

I 'represent' ALL software mfrs that I like, use and trust.

 

[Phisherman]

For some years I have had a LAN with four computers at home, based on a
DLink DSL504T modem/router also providing access to the Internet. With the
kids all grown up and gone now-a-days I decided to simplify everything. My
one remaining machine now connects to the Internet via a SmartAX ADSL2+
MT882 modem using the ethernet port.

The old DLink had a hardware firewall built in, and I also ran a software
firewall on each individual computer. My question is, now with a firewall
also in
the new modem, and no LAN any more, do I really need a software firewall on
my single machine as well any more? I am running Windows XP SP3 with the
Windows firewall enabled at present.

Many thanks for any advice offered.

Go to www.grc.com and run Shields Up! It will plot a graph of any
open, closed, and stealth ports and show possible vulnerable areas you
can fix. Don't try this at work, as it hammers a firewall and may
upset a security systems administrator.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I will "attack" as you put it, misinformation wherever and whenever I find
it and wish to do so.

In a technical forum one puts forward facts to discuss an issue. In a bar
room brawl one ignores the facts and attacks the person. The language you
used lacks the objectivity one expects in a technical discusssion.

 

[Kayman]

I know more people that have been compromised using third party firewall
software on their computers than I know that have been protected by it.

Very true. And because the (PFW) software is so poorly coded they can be
problematic when trying to remove from the operating system.

Most people that use ZA/ZAP are also completely ignorant and just
accept/allow anything through, they also run as local administrators,
they just don't have a clue.

Yes. If usage of LUA/UAC and in-build f/w in WinXP/Vista would be
advertised/promoted as aggressively as PFW's we'd have more well informed
users.

 

[Kayman]

You need to reread and try to find a recommendation there for ZA.

Okay then; I rephrase it to "insinuating".

Perhaps you would have preferred if I listed every one I could think of

My preference is not the issue here.

starting with Avira?

In relation to PFW?

I 'represent' ALL software mfrs that I like, use and trust.

Ahh.

 

[db.·.. >]

you're welcome.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

Gentlemen, gentlemen, (& ladies?), I appreciate the helpful and knowlegeable comments here, and I have read them carefully. I
think I will stay with the router firewall, and the built in Windows XP firewall. Frankly. it's been so long since I last picked
up a problem that I can't remember when that was. What I do remember about it is that it was my own stupid fault for browsing
without any protection whatsoever at the time. I learned a sharp lesson, and deservedly so.

I also run Avast antivirus, and a paid for version of Ashampoo AntiSpyWare. I used my old DLink router for a few years with
nothing more than its own built in firewall, and never had a problem (that I know of - grin), so I'll keep the same sort of setup
for now.

Once again, I am grateful for the comments and suggestions.