Outbound decision making

  • Thread starter Thread starter Charlie
  • Start date Start date
C

Charlie

I would like to use Sygate Personal FW again as I really liked it. However I
do not know how to determine which outbound access requests to honor and
which to consider threatening. I expect these requests after program
updates etc and can deal with those usually. Some outbound requests seem to
me to occur at unpredictable times...it is those especially with cryptic
names that are still baffling me as I feel I might unknowingly let a threat
through. I am not an IT professional...but a performing artist.

How is the non-technoid person supposed to make an informed decision on
these matters?

I have thus resorted to the WinXP Home built-in F/W and a couple patches
from grc.com and I get all stealth there and elsewhere and no hassle
managing outbound data F/W security decisions. Where's the downside to that
arrangement?

Charlie
 
You should consider installing a good firewall program
that is intelligent and knows which programs or services
have a legitimate purpose of accessing the internet.
Norton Internet Security 2004 takes the guesswork out
of determining this.

Essential protection from viruses, hackers, and privacy threats:

Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2004 provides essential protection
from viruses, hackers, and privacy threats. Powerful yet easy to use, this
award-winning suite now includes advanced spam-fighting software to filter
unwanted mail out of your inbox. Protect yourself, your family, and your
PC online with Norton Internet Security 2004.

Visit: http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/nis_pe/


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------


| I would like to use Sygate Personal FW again as I really liked it. However I
| do not know how to determine which outbound access requests to honor and
| which to consider threatening. I expect these requests after program
| updates etc and can deal with those usually. Some outbound requests seem to
| me to occur at unpredictable times...it is those especially with cryptic
| names that are still baffling me as I feel I might unknowingly let a threat
| through. I am not an IT professional...but a performing artist.
|
| How is the non-technoid person supposed to make an informed decision on
| these matters?
|
| I have thus resorted to the WinXP Home built-in F/W and a couple patches
| from grc.com and I get all stealth there and elsewhere and no hassle
| managing outbound data F/W security decisions. Where's the downside to that
| arrangement?
|
| Charlie
 
TY Carey..do you currently use this product on your personal or work
machine(s) ??

Charlie
 
I use Norton Internet Security 2003 and love it! No more
annoying web popups and Norton automatically updates
itself with the latest virus and security signatures!

-- Firewall rules help Norton Internet Security defend your computer
against the latest security intrusions and privacy threats.
-- Attack signatures allow Intrusion Detection to block newly discovered
Internet attacks.
-- Spam Alert updates help Norton Internet Security to identify new types of
spam.
-- Parental Control updates ensure that your family is protected from
inappropriate content online.


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


| TY Carey..do you currently use this product on your personal or work
| machine(s) ??
|
| Charlie
 
Hi Carey,
TY so much...I use NAV 2004 now and love it's ease of use and automatic
updates.

Charlie
 
For most people the XP firewall is perfectly fine. Controlling outbound access is
important for a couple of reasons. First you can control what internet applications a
user uses on a computer such as in a situation where you do not want a user to use
chat or file swapping programs. Second, it can stop access to the internet from
spyware, trojans, and worms. In particular it is possible that a hacker could install
a program on your computer to remotely control it and/or use it as a ftp file server,
etc! Spyware is mostly annoying and can be cleaned easily with something like Ad
Aware. Trojans and worms are much more serious. Still I believe the XP firewall is a
good bet, because you can mitigate risks for trojans/worms/viruses by using a program
such as Norton that can also scan emails and automatically keep virus definitions up
to date and also by keeping your computer current with critical updates from Windows
Update. In addition you need to use a complex password for your administrator
account as many trojans try to do a short dictionary attack against that account,
which they need to crack to do their damage. --- Steve

http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/
 
Do you know why they don't have NIS 2004 listed for trialware? They only
list NIS 2003 and I don't know what features that product has.
 
I use NIS 2004 on my laptop. The two most useful differences between 03 and
04 are the "Locations" feature and Norton Anti-Spam which ships as part of
NIS2004. Locations allows be to associate firewall rule sets with a network.
eg. I have a different ruleset for the office, and for home, and a totally
locked down version for an insecure environment like the airport/DefCon. It
will sense the network and switch rulesets for you automatically.

Then there's NAS.. in-field trainable Bayesian filtering network. The only
product I know that has that is Mozilla. It works real well for me.
 
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