XP SP2 Security Center Nag Balloon

[Eddie Wood]

XP Service Pack 2 installed now.

First to go was that nagging bloody balloon saying that I don't have a
firewall enabled or auto-update enabled, yeah, yeah, whatever
Micro$oft, we don't all use software firewalls, there is such a thing
as a hardware firewall.

A little trip to Services and then stop and disable the Security
Center service is all that's required.

As for auto-updates, no thanks, gets in the way of online gaming!

Regards,

Ed.

 

[Steve Shattuck]

XP Service Pack 2 installed now.

First to go was that nagging bloody balloon saying that I don't have a
firewall enabled or auto-update enabled, yeah, yeah, whatever
Micro$oft, we don't all use software firewalls, there is such a thing
as a hardware firewall.

You have to love arrogant people. Software firewalls protect outbound (Not
XP of course) network traffic and are an absolutely essential component in a
secure system/network, so for anyone to exhault the virtues of a hardware
firewall as all that is needed, just doesn't have a clue. I'm sure extoling
your superiority over Microsoft made your thing seem bigger, but all you
acomplished was making a fool of yourself. Congratulations.

 

[Rock]

XP Service Pack 2 installed now.

First to go was that nagging bloody balloon saying that I don't have a
firewall enabled or auto-update enabled, yeah, yeah, whatever
Micro$oft, we don't all use software firewalls, there is such a thing
as a hardware firewall.

A little trip to Services and then stop and disable the Security
Center service is all that's required.

As for auto-updates, no thanks, gets in the way of online gaming!

Regards,

Ed.

You can turn it off from withing the security center. No need to
disable services. Did you look at all the options there?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Wouldn't it have been much simpler to have just used the Security
Center's own options to turn off the alerts and Notification Area
icon?

By the way, if you use a so-called hardware firewall, which is
most likely just a router with NAT, it's still a good idea to use a
3rd party software firewall. Like WinXP's firewall, hardware
firewalls and NAT-capable routers do nothing to protect the user from
him/herself. Again -- and I _cannot_ emphasize this enough -- almost
all spyware and many Trojans and worms are downloaded and installed
deliberately (albeit unknowingly) by the user. So a software
firewall, such as Sygate or ZoneAlarm, that can detect and warn the
user of unauthorized out-going traffic is an important element of
protecting one's privacy and security. Most antivirus applications do
not scan for or protect you from adware/spyware, because, after all,
you've installed them yourself, so you must want them there, right?


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[Eddie Wood]

You have to love arrogant people.

You (and the others) know nothing of me, my knowledge and experience,
nor of my network. Yet you presume to preach to me? You are the
arrogant one here.

You have to love presumptuous people


Software firewalls protect outbound (Not

XP of course) network traffic and are an absolutely essential component in a
secure system/network, so for anyone to exhault the virtues of a hardware
firewall as all that is needed, just doesn't have a clue.

Here we go again, the mantra stated over and over by amateur experts.
Software firewalls are not the ONLY way to block Trojans.

Yes, for amateur home users they are useful, but I do not require one
and it is presumptuous of anybody to say that I do, especially based
on their apparent limited knowledge.

If you don't know how to properly configure a firewall or use IDS,
then you are the one that "just doesn't have a clue".


I'm sure extoling

your superiority over Microsoft made your thing seem bigger, but all you
acomplished was making a fool of yourself. Congratulations.

You are the one "extoling your superiority" (sic) over me, or rather
failing to. Clearly you are "making a fool of yourself" with sweeping
statements about me when you don't know me. "Congratulations".

For the benefit of others I will expand on my throw away statement
about turning the service off, which so enraged the amateur experts
here. Perhaps you will learn something if you tame your arrogance

I disable (or remove) *all* services that are not required. This is
one of my first rules of security on any given host.

If you are happy to have services running, good for you, I am not.
How long before the Security Center Service, which runs as the Local
System Account, is hit by a trojan? No thanks. But then *you* would
understand that because *you* are an expert and have already disabled
the service like I have.

I block all connections that are not required in ANY direction and
from ANY network. It is a common misconception amongst "experts" that
a software firewall is required to block outgoing connections. This
is WRONG. On a simple LAN use a router and a hardware firewall at the
perimeter and then some of the many IDS applications on the network
and clients.

Given the right configuration you can safely run an XP machine on the
Internet without a firewall at all, shock, horror, he said use XP
without a firewall, is he mad?

Depth of security and education is the key. It appears that anybody
with ZoneAlarm installed is a security "expert" these days.

Don't worry I will not expect an apology for your outburst, after all,
this is USENET and "experts" that obtain their knowledge from PC World
are ten-a-penny.

Ed.

 

[Eddie Wood]

You can turn it off from withing the security center. No need to
disable services. Did you look at all the options there?

I prefer to disable any services that I don't require.

Cheers,

Ed.

 

[Eddie Wood]

Greetings --

Wouldn't it have been much simpler to have just used the Security
Center's own options to turn off the alerts and Notification Area
icon?

I prefer to turn off any services that I do not use. Safe Micro$oft
computing.

By the way, if you use a so-called hardware firewall, which is
most likely just a router with NAT, it's still a good idea to use a
3rd party software firewall. Like WinXP's firewall, hardware
firewalls and NAT-capable routers do nothing to protect the user from
him/herself. Again -- and I _cannot_ emphasize this enough -- almost
all spyware and many Trojans and worms are downloaded and installed
deliberately (albeit unknowingly) by the user. So a software
firewall, such as Sygate or ZoneAlarm, that can detect and warn the
user of unauthorized out-going traffic is an important element of
protecting one's privacy and security. Most antivirus applications do
not scan for or protect you from adware/spyware, because, after all,
you've installed them yourself, so you must want them there, right?

Was this for my benefit? Not required thanks, I'm not talking about a
poxy Linksys router

I don't require a software firewall to block outgoing connections,
especially one that leaves control to users. LOL.

Thanks.

Ed.

 

[Testy]

AMEN!!!!! Agreed 1000%

Testy

"Steve Shattuck" <[email protected]> wrote in message

You (and the others) know nothing of me, my knowledge and experience,
nor of my network. Yet you presume to preach to me? You are the
arrogant one here.

You have to love presumptuous people


Software firewalls protect outbound (Not

Here we go again, the mantra stated over and over by amateur experts.
Software firewalls are not the ONLY way to block Trojans.

Yes, for amateur home users they are useful, but I do not require one
and it is presumptuous of anybody to say that I do, especially based
on their apparent limited knowledge.

If you don't know how to properly configure a firewall or use IDS,
then you are the one that "just doesn't have a clue".


I'm sure extoling

You are the one "extoling your superiority" (sic) over me, or rather
failing to. Clearly you are "making a fool of yourself" with sweeping
statements about me when you don't know me. "Congratulations".

For the benefit of others I will expand on my throw away statement
about turning the service off, which so enraged the amateur experts
here. Perhaps you will learn something if you tame your arrogance

I disable (or remove) *all* services that are not required. This is
one of my first rules of security on any given host.

If you are happy to have services running, good for you, I am not.
How long before the Security Center Service, which runs as the Local
System Account, is hit by a trojan? No thanks. But then *you* would
understand that because *you* are an expert and have already disabled
the service like I have.

I block all connections that are not required in ANY direction and
from ANY network. It is a common misconception amongst "experts" that
a software firewall is required to block outgoing connections. This
is WRONG. On a simple LAN use a router and a hardware firewall at the
perimeter and then some of the many IDS applications on the network
and clients.

Given the right configuration you can safely run an XP machine on the
Internet without a firewall at all, shock, horror, he said use XP
without a firewall, is he mad?

Depth of security and education is the key. It appears that anybody
with ZoneAlarm installed is a security "expert" these days.

Don't worry I will not expect an apology for your outburst, after all,
this is USENET and "experts" that obtain their knowledge from PC World
are ten-a-penny.

Ed.