Firewalls for dialup???

[Guest]

Someone please set me straight. I have been told by many people that I don't
need a firewall when using DIALUP Service on my PC. I will never go with
Broadband or DSL because of all the things I read about there being attacked
with viruses and spyware from being on all the time. will someone please set
this NEWBE to PCs in the right direction. Does anyone have a suggestion on a
really good Firewall program if it comes down to my needing one. Any help is
welcome, JJ

 

[Robert Moir]

Someone please set me straight. I have been told by many people that
I don't need a firewall when using DIALUP Service on my PC.

Many people are wrong, then. A computer either does need protecting by a
firewall when connected to the internet, or it does not need protecting by a
firewall when connected to the internet. How it is connected doesn't matter.

I will
never go with Broadband or DSL because of all the things I read about
there being attacked with viruses and spyware from being on all the
time.

Dial ups are also equally likely to attack. The differences are simply that
a dial up system is slightly less easy to target and slower to do anything
with for a remote attacker. This makes your system *possibly* slightly less
likely to be directly targetted by a human hacker, but an automated worm
such as MS Blaster wouldn't care a jot what kind of connection you have and
will try to take you down if you are vulnerable.

With ADSL or Cable, you can simply disconnect your computer from the modem
when not in use, turn the modem off or whatever - just because the
connection from the ISP is "On all the time" doesn't mean your computer has
to be, or that you have to be connected all the time.

Personally, I have a cable connection and purchased a cheap broadband
"router" that included a firewall as part of its options, leave my
connection on all the time, turn my computers off when i'm not using them,
and don't have any issues.

--
--
Rob Moir, MS MVP
Blog Site - http://www.robertmoir.com
Virtual PC 2004 FAQ - http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html
I'm always surprised at "professionals" who STILL have to be asked "Have you
checked (event viewer / syslog)".

 

[Guest]

Agree with you their Rob, do not be scared away from Broadband by the horor
stories you here, I too have broadband with a hardware firewall and I have no
issues and a nice fast internet connection.

Just make sure that your broadband modem has a built in firewall, that way
you know your protected and if you still feel insecure turn on the Windows
firewall as well.

I agree with Rob though, you are just as likley to be attacked by a hacker
or an automated worm on dialup as you would be on broadband.

Hope that helps ?

 

[Iceman]

Someone please set me straight. I have been told by many people that I don't
need a firewall when using DIALUP Service on my PC. I will never go with
Broadband or DSL because of all the things I read about there being attacked
with viruses and spyware from being on all the time. will someone please set
this NEWBE to PCs in the right direction. Does anyone have a suggestion on a
really good Firewall program if it comes down to my needing one. Any help is
welcome, JJ

If you have XP Service Pack 2, then it has an inbuilt firewall. It is said
by many to give fairly good protection to incoming probes.

However, here's a list of free firewalls for Windows:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=57655