Firewalls:
Firewall Solutions!
Firewall
Let's say you are up-to-date on the OS (operating system) and you
have Windows XP.. You should at least turn on the built in firewall.
That will do a lot to "hide" you from the random bad things
flying around the Internet. Things like Sasser/Blaster enjoy just
sitting out there in Cyberspace looking for an unprotected Windows
Operating System and jumping on it, doing great damage in the process
and then using that Unprotected OS to continue its dirty work of
infecting others. If you have the Windows XP FW turned on - default
configuration - then they cannot see you! Think of it as Internet
Stealth Mode at this point. It has other advantages, like actually
locking the doors you didn't even (likely) know you had. Doing this
is simple, some helpful tips for the SP2 enabled firewall can be
found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/
If you read through that and look through the pages that are linked
from it throughout - I think you should have a firm grasp on the
basics of the Windows XP Firewall as it is today. One thing to note
RIGHT NOW - if you have AOL, you cannot use this nice firewall that
came with your system. Thank AOL, not Microsoft. You HAVE to configure
another one.. So we continue with our session on Firewalls...
But let's say you DON'T have Windows XP - you have some other OS
like Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, NT, 2000. Well, you don't have the
nifty built in firewall. My suggestion - upgrade. My next suggestion
- look through your options. There are lots of free and pay firewalls
out there for home users. Yes - you will have to decide on your own
which to get. Yes, you will have to learn (oh no!) to use these firewalls
and configure them so they don't interfere with what you want to
do while continuing to provide the security you desire. It's just
like anything else you want to protect - you have to do something
to protect it. Here are some suggested applications. A lot of people
tout "ZoneAlarm" as being the best alternative to just
using the Windows XP FW, but truthfully - any of these alternatives
are much better than the Windows XP FW at what they do - because
that is ALL they do.
ZoneAlarm (Free and up)
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp Kerio
Personal Firewall (KPF) (Free and up)
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html Outpost
Firewall from Agnitum (Free and up)
http://www.agnitum.com/download/ Sygate
Personal Firewall (Free and up)
http://smb.sygate.com/buy/download_buy.htm Symantec's
Norton Personal Firewall (~$25 and up)
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/nis/npf/ BlackICE
PC Protection ($39.95 and up)
http://blackice.iss.net/ Tiny
Personal Firewall (~$49.00 and up)
http://www.tinysoftware.com/
That
list is not complete, but they are good firewall options, every
one of them. Visit the web pages, read up, ask around if you like
- make a decision and go with some firewall, any firewall. Also,
maintain it.
Sometimes new holes are discovered in even the best of
these products and
patches are released from the company to remedy this problem. However,
if
you don't get the patches (check the manufacturer web page on occasion),
then you may never know you have the problem and/or are being used
through
this weakness. Also, don't stack these things. Running more than
one
firewall will not make you safer - it would likely (in fact) negate
some
protection you gleamed from one or the other firewalls you run.
*Note that anti-virus software can't remove spyware,
they can only deal with viruses and trojans
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