firewalls

A

apostropheman

Guest
should i be using one?

apparantly i can setup my wireless router as a firewall but not sure if it's necessary.

i used to use a 3rd party firewall, like zone alaem, but found most of them to be a hassle and or resource hogs with no apparant benefit.

can anyone recommend a good, free and transparant one?

i regularly use ad-aware and spybot as well as AVG-free antivirus and anti-spyware and have had no problems with intrusions or viruses lately.
i also keep winXP's firewall active.

also if there is a better place on DR1 for computer/software questions like this please direct me to it.

thanks.
 
Last edited:
A

apostropheman

Guest
excellent!

thank you.

just installed sygate and so far so good.
 

azabache

New member
Apr 25, 2006
451
0
0
My Opinion on Firewalls

should i be using one?

apparantly i can setup my wireless router as a firewall but not sure if it's necessary.

i used to use a 3rd party firewall, like zone alaem, but found most of them to be a hassle and or resource hogs with no apparant benefit.

can anyone recommend a good, free and transparant one?

i regularly use ad-aware and spybot as well as AVG-free antivirus and anti-spyware and have had no problems with intrusions or viruses lately.
i also keep winXP's firewall active.

also if there is a better place on DR1 for computer/software questions like this please direct me to it.

thanks.

Hello apostopheman. Anyone who is sharp enough to even ask the question already knows the answer. Yes, you should be using a firewall because you must have control over who's dipping into your computer and who your computer is connecting to. Unfortunately there are a lot of nasty people in the world and they will do harm to you and your computer simply because they can.
I am very surprised that you would think that ZoneAlarm is a hassle. Most people find that it is very active at first, but within a short period it calms down as it learns you internet habits. ZoneAlarm does not tax your computer's resource's either. Go back to ZoneAlarm. It's one of the best available, and as you know...it's free. Once you re-install ZoneAlarm you can then turn off Windows firewall if you are concerned about resources.
Windows firewall is weak in that it only monitor's incoming traffic and will not stop programs installed on your computer from calling back to the "mother ship".
Ad-aware, Spybot and AVG-free antivirus are all good programs but they don't catch everything. If you are able, buy Norton Internet Security, that's the best way to avoid all internet threats.
 
A

apostropheman

Guest
:bunny:Azabache,

thank you for your opinion but i must strongly disagree about both norton products in general and zone alarm.

i have monitored my resources using both and they radically slow my computer by themselves and used together i suddenly have a tortoise:surprised

my computers are relatively new:

dual core centrino laptop purchased in march and an AMD athlon 64 300+ desktop both with 1 gig ram.

basic software applications should not noticeably slow these down yet norton AV and zone alarm do.

i am not the only one i know to experience this and it is much more dramatic on older machines. i know atleast 6 of my friends that have noted a dramatic overall improvement in speed just by uninstalling norton AV and using AVG Free instead.

since installing sygate 5.6 as a firewall i have not noticed a significant difference in performance of my computer. the same cannot be said for norton internet security suite which i have used nor zone alarm.

perhaps your computer is so new and powerful that it makes no noticeable difference in performance?:bunny:
 
Last edited:
I too have scrapped Norton and it leaves a file savrt.??? in the registry which is a bitch to get out, I use the Sygate 5.6 and never have seen a slow down in fact my speed test have shown an incredible increase since dumping that expensive Software.

For anti virus I use a new one from Germany that works beautifully and is free for personal use Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic, it can be downloaded here AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic - More than Security

there is a lot of free software that does work, it catches spyware also quicker than any adaware program I have ever used.
 
A

apostropheman

Guest
antivir was recently recommended to me and i tried it but...apparantly with the free "demo" version it will not alow you to update and has other limitations. i'm happily back with AVG.

i wonder if i'm not installing antivir correctly?
I too have scrapped Norton and it leaves a file savrt.??? in the registry which is a bitch to get out, I use the Sygate 5.6 and never have seen a slow down in fact my speed test have shown an incredible increase since dumping that expensive Software.

For anti virus I use a new one from Germany that works beautifully and is free for personal use Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic, it can be downloaded here AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic - More than Security

there is a lot of free software that does work, it catches spyware also quicker than any adaware program I have ever used.
 
A

apostropheman

Guest
thanks squat! i'm working on the linux but still like windows for some things. do i need wine?
 

Rocky

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Apr 4, 2002
13,993
208
0
111
www.rockysbar.com
ZoneAlarm does not tax your computer's resource's either. Go back to ZoneAlarm.
If you are able, buy Norton Internet Security, that's the best way to avoid all internet threats.
Norton is unquestionably the worst POS anti virus program on the market.
My sister could beat a virus off better with a wet noodle, and nothing slows a computer down more that Norton, although Zone Alarm runs a close second.
 
A

apostropheman

Guest
antivir
I have had mine for 6 months and it update automatically every day on startup

?????
when i try to update after install it tells me the key is invalid, expired. i'll try again.

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

ok, i downloaded a fresh copy and have installed it. i now have a license valid until feb 28/07 and itr HAS updated.

cool but strange as yesterday it was not cooperating at all :)
 
A

apostropheman

Guest
-What exactly do you need from Windows that you can't get in Linux ?
probably not much. things like yahoo messenger not liking my .ca acount for gaim and the odd game i guess.

it's a matter of familiarity too
 

azabache

New member
Apr 25, 2006
451
0
0
:bunny:Azabache,

thank you for your opinion but i must strongly disagree about both norton products in general and zone alarm.

i have monitored my resources using both and they radically slow my computer by themselves and used together i suddenly have a tortoise:surprised

my computers are relatively new:

dual core centrino laptop purchased in march and an AMD athlon 64 300+ desktop both with 1 gig ram.

basic software applications should not noticeably slow these down yet norton AV and zone alarm do.

i am not the only one i know to experience this and it is much more dramatic on older machines. i know atleast 6 of my friends that have noted a dramatic overall improvement in speed just by uninstalling norton AV and using AVG Free instead.

since installing sygate 5.6 as a firewall i have not noticed a significant difference in performance of my computer. the same cannot be said for norton internet security suite which i have used nor zone alarm.

perhaps your computer is so new and powerful that it makes no noticeable difference in performance?:bunny:

Congratulations on finding a firewall that works for you. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I haven't had the software and firewall problems
that you have had.
 

Uzin

Bronze
Oct 26, 2005
1,386
20
38
Firewall is a MUST on a personal network connected to the internet (business networks normally have hardware firewalls), specially if you are using Windows IE to browse internet. To avoid a lot of problems use Firefox or Opera browsers.

I also use Sygate Personal Edition, no problem so far.