Need a firewall
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Hey, I just the got news that I'm finally going to be getting a high speed internet connection, its been six months in the making and its finally here!! :-D This got me thinking that I will now need to set-up a firewall, does any one have a favorite... should I look at getting a hardware one? Or should I stick software? I also have an old Pentium that has Linux running, I suppose I could set it up as one... but I think it might slow things down, seeing as its only running at ~75 MHz. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Ben --------- On the topic of code with no error handling -- It's not poor coding, it's "optimistic" ;)
I also use ZoneAlarm. It's easy to set up, it seems to do the job, and it's free. What's not to like?
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Hey, I just the got news that I'm finally going to be getting a high speed internet connection, its been six months in the making and its finally here!! :-D This got me thinking that I will now need to set-up a firewall, does any one have a favorite... should I look at getting a hardware one? Or should I stick software? I also have an old Pentium that has Linux running, I suppose I could set it up as one... but I think it might slow things down, seeing as its only running at ~75 MHz. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Ben --------- On the topic of code with no error handling -- It's not poor coding, it's "optimistic" ;)
I use Black Ice Defender on my own computer where I have a little more control over configuration. And ZoneAlarm (free version) on my wife's computer so she doesn't have to deal with configuration issues. BD gives you a finer level of control, and more information about attackers, and their attack Databse where you can get information about the hack results is really good. I've spent a lot of time looking at it, I get about 30 attacks per day at home, mostly port scans for backdoor Trojans. However, the one thing that is really nice about ZoneAlarm that you can't do with BD is the stop all internet access. If you use outlook or Outlook Express and use HTML mail, p0rn spam can open an IE window to their site, and then you get lost in closing pop-ups. Locking the internet connection completely allows you to short circuit that. I have to unplug from my hub to accomplish that.
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Hey, I just the got news that I'm finally going to be getting a high speed internet connection, its been six months in the making and its finally here!! :-D This got me thinking that I will now need to set-up a firewall, does any one have a favorite... should I look at getting a hardware one? Or should I stick software? I also have an old Pentium that has Linux running, I suppose I could set it up as one... but I think it might slow things down, seeing as its only running at ~75 MHz. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Ben --------- On the topic of code with no error handling -- It's not poor coding, it's "optimistic" ;)
I would not waste my time with the software firewalls and spend the $120(US) and buy the LinkSys EtherFast Cable/DSL router, especially if you have more than one computer. It is so easy to use and setup and it provides a DHCP server to make home networking simple. I was using ZoneAlarm before I got DSL. ZoneAlarm was nice, but it also gave me some headaches too. Kind regards, Tim
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I would not waste my time with the software firewalls and spend the $120(US) and buy the LinkSys EtherFast Cable/DSL router, especially if you have more than one computer. It is so easy to use and setup and it provides a DHCP server to make home networking simple. I was using ZoneAlarm before I got DSL. ZoneAlarm was nice, but it also gave me some headaches too. Kind regards, Tim
i'll second that! this linksys router is an outstanding product i've got my mail, web and IM server running behind the firewall with the correct ports being forwarded through it. works like a champ. now the firewall isn't the most robust firewall, there is no packet filtering, or authentication going on, and some of the other features are limited, but it is a great product nonetheless. it comes with - an integrated dhcp server - all web based configuration, (just point to its' ip address, default is 192.168.1.1), - it can clone the MAC address of the nic that you were originally set up on (some isp's register the nic that you connect with and only work with that mac address, this spoofs that) - one computer dmz (not safe, but for older games/apps that won't work behind a firewall...) very nice product -John
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Hey, I just the got news that I'm finally going to be getting a high speed internet connection, its been six months in the making and its finally here!! :-D This got me thinking that I will now need to set-up a firewall, does any one have a favorite... should I look at getting a hardware one? Or should I stick software? I also have an old Pentium that has Linux running, I suppose I could set it up as one... but I think it might slow things down, seeing as its only running at ~75 MHz. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Ben --------- On the topic of code with no error handling -- It's not poor coding, it's "optimistic" ;)
I'm frankly somewhat alarmed about all this talk about firewalls. I always thought they were programs used mainly by corporations seeking to keep their networks secure. However, the amount of responses here has led me to believe that everyone should be using a firewall. Should I be? I have a Windows 98 PC at home which I mostly use for multiplayer gaming over the Internet. I connect over a DSL line. Should I be concerned about someone maliciously hacking into my machine while I'm playing? What are the pros/cons of having a firewall? Thanks for the guidance, Alvaro
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i'll second that! this linksys router is an outstanding product i've got my mail, web and IM server running behind the firewall with the correct ports being forwarded through it. works like a champ. now the firewall isn't the most robust firewall, there is no packet filtering, or authentication going on, and some of the other features are limited, but it is a great product nonetheless. it comes with - an integrated dhcp server - all web based configuration, (just point to its' ip address, default is 192.168.1.1), - it can clone the MAC address of the nic that you were originally set up on (some isp's register the nic that you connect with and only work with that mac address, this spoofs that) - one computer dmz (not safe, but for older games/apps that won't work behind a firewall...) very nice product -John
A hardware router rules for DSL/cable installs. The cheap hardware routers do a great job at managing the interface between your home or office network and the internet, and they are painless to install and configure. I'm using an SMC DSL router, which isn't as good as the Linksys, but I got for a net $20US from Amazon after rebate and a 10% off code. The grc.com security probes give me a great rating, and I can use it to control my 13 year old's net access. If you want to play with Linux then by all means use that old slow box and it'll work fine, but if you are tight on space and plan to have a network, take a good look at a hardware router. Jim
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I'm frankly somewhat alarmed about all this talk about firewalls. I always thought they were programs used mainly by corporations seeking to keep their networks secure. However, the amount of responses here has led me to believe that everyone should be using a firewall. Should I be? I have a Windows 98 PC at home which I mostly use for multiplayer gaming over the Internet. I connect over a DSL line. Should I be concerned about someone maliciously hacking into my machine while I'm playing? What are the pros/cons of having a firewall? Thanks for the guidance, Alvaro
You need a some protection from hostile users on the net. See grc.com for a great discussion of this issue. Jim
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I'm frankly somewhat alarmed about all this talk about firewalls. I always thought they were programs used mainly by corporations seeking to keep their networks secure. However, the amount of responses here has led me to believe that everyone should be using a firewall. Should I be? I have a Windows 98 PC at home which I mostly use for multiplayer gaming over the Internet. I connect over a DSL line. Should I be concerned about someone maliciously hacking into my machine while I'm playing? What are the pros/cons of having a firewall? Thanks for the guidance, Alvaro
If you don't connect through a router, but something like an ATM Netcard or something else where your pc get's a public IP Address, you should get some kind of personal firewall on your pc. Win98 directly connected to the internet is a really easy targer for crackers... - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!"
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Hey, I just the got news that I'm finally going to be getting a high speed internet connection, its been six months in the making and its finally here!! :-D This got me thinking that I will now need to set-up a firewall, does any one have a favorite... should I look at getting a hardware one? Or should I stick software? I also have an old Pentium that has Linux running, I suppose I could set it up as one... but I think it might slow things down, seeing as its only running at ~75 MHz. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Ben --------- On the topic of code with no error handling -- It's not poor coding, it's "optimistic" ;)
I took a look at some of the software firewalls that were recommended, some of them were really nice, but in the end I decided to give my old PC the job. Current setup; Hardware: Compaq DeskPro 575 - Pentium ~75 MHz With a whopping 16MB of RAM. Two SMC Elite16 network cards -- old, but nice. 4x CD-ROM -- only because I could not find a cover ;) 500MB Hardrive -- 498MB free :) Software: Freesco 0.27 (www.freesco.org) -- for now, it was quick and easy to setup, so I got lazy and used it. I'm going to try out LRP (www.linuxrouter.org) and GnatBox (www.gnatbox.com) this weekend. Thanks again, -Ben --------- On the topic of code with no error handling -- It's not poor coding, it's "optimistic" ;)
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Hey, I just the got news that I'm finally going to be getting a high speed internet connection, its been six months in the making and its finally here!! :-D This got me thinking that I will now need to set-up a firewall, does any one have a favorite... should I look at getting a hardware one? Or should I stick software? I also have an old Pentium that has Linux running, I suppose I could set it up as one... but I think it might slow things down, seeing as its only running at ~75 MHz. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Ben --------- On the topic of code with no error handling -- It's not poor coding, it's "optimistic" ;)
Yeah, you could play with clunker.... But why not just get NetGear DSL-Cable Router/Switch combo. Fast/tiny/0-time setup. Few month electricity bill could probably pay for the thing. Includes firewall,etc etc etc. You can set what ever rules you want like If connection from Internet to Lan and port < 1024 drop; Do not forward 13x netbios packet to internet. Port forwarding. Browser interface. Can never be hacked: 1) because it is dumb as a rock 2) Internal policy will reject any attempt to control it from Internet, and accepts only lan connections. I got mine for $50, blackice went into a trash on the same day. Brian
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i'll second that! this linksys router is an outstanding product i've got my mail, web and IM server running behind the firewall with the correct ports being forwarded through it. works like a champ. now the firewall isn't the most robust firewall, there is no packet filtering, or authentication going on, and some of the other features are limited, but it is a great product nonetheless. it comes with - an integrated dhcp server - all web based configuration, (just point to its' ip address, default is 192.168.1.1), - it can clone the MAC address of the nic that you were originally set up on (some isp's register the nic that you connect with and only work with that mac address, this spoofs that) - one computer dmz (not safe, but for older games/apps that won't work behind a firewall...) very nice product -John
I have one of these units too, and it's fine for what I consider light home use, but if you want a serious firewall product you should look elsewhere. The best home router I've seen is the Umax UGate-2000 unit. It's about twice the codst of the Linksys 4-port, but it's got more features and the number of ports (and port ranges) you can forward is much higher.
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I'll add my vote for zonealarm. A very good product and easy to use and configure. The free version is good but I'd recommend paying the few dollars for the pro version. It gives a lot more control. Michael :-)
I use ZoneAlarm. Works a charm. I use it protect the very old Pentium 120 running Win95 that I use for accessing the web from home. Stephen Kellett -- C++/Java/Win NT/Unix variants Memory leaks/corruptions/performance/system problems. UK based. Problems with RSI/WRULD? Contact me for advice.
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Hey, I just the got news that I'm finally going to be getting a high speed internet connection, its been six months in the making and its finally here!! :-D This got me thinking that I will now need to set-up a firewall, does any one have a favorite... should I look at getting a hardware one? Or should I stick software? I also have an old Pentium that has Linux running, I suppose I could set it up as one... but I think it might slow things down, seeing as its only running at ~75 MHz. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Ben --------- On the topic of code with no error handling -- It's not poor coding, it's "optimistic" ;)
> I also have an old Pentium that has Linux running, I > suppose I could set it up as one... but I think it might > slow things down, seeing as its only running at ~75 MHz. Unless you've got a really fast outside line, you are more than fine with that machine. I'm myself running an OpenBSD 2.8 with ipf and NAT on a 486/66 (yes, I saved that machine for this special purpose) with (an overwhelming) 20MB of RAM and an almost ten year old SCSI drive, and the OS has an average load of less than 1% CPU.