Norton vs McAfee vs The Rest Of The World

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Thanks for the link.

Maybe as you say, NIC manufacturers didn't bother as they thought it could be done at the OS?

 

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You need to be aware that it's not just viruses these days that mess up your computer. The new term is malware. To prevent malware which includes viruses, trojan horses, spyware, adware dialers, dodgy cookies etc, you need a belt and braces approach.

A proactive approach is to use a router that uses NAT and has proper firewall ie SPI packet inspection. If your router doesn't support this, then get a hardware firewall. Also you can use a personal firewall like Zone Alarm or the less popular built in one that comes with XP SP2. Then you need an up to date anti-virus program. NOD32, AVG or whatever is your favorite. Then stop using Internet Explorer and use Firefox or Opera (both free) and less likely to pick up spyware/adware and last but not least run a program which prevents spyware installations. My personal choice is Javacool's SpywareBlaster.

 

Well, an absolute wealth of information, I thank you all for your time.

In some cases, though, this has prompted more questions than answers. My current IT skills are no-where near you guys. I know more than the average noddy, but that is more to do with hardware issues. I can perform tasks like install RAM, CD drives, motherboards etc, but this side of it is very new to me.

What you are all saying should give me a PC as secure as Fort Knox, but your average joe hooking up to Broadband in their house would have nothing like the programs and hardware you all mention, yet they seem to trundle along fine with no apparent problems. Please don't think I'm dicsounting anyone's help here as - like I say - you all know far more than me, but I'm finding Zebs comment on a PC being riddled and FUBAR'ed within 25 minutes a bit odd, as any Luddite in the country logging onto Broadband with the basics would be screwed in minutes.

I know I seem paranoid about security, my main concern is contracting a virus that will cause my hardrive to crash or delete. I don't hold any useful personal info on my PC, but I do posess old work (I work in graphic art as a sideline) that I wouldn't want to lose, along with of course all my programs and plug-ins.

BTW took AVG home with me last night, cheers, seems like good stuff, cleared out some nasties I never knew I had

 

Cockles,

To sum up;

*Make sure you have your Windows machine to automatically collect, and install updates.
* Make sure AVG is set to collect and install updates automatically.
* Use Firefox as a web browser, or IE with the security tightened down.
* Use Spybot Search and destroy to keep <menancing> things away.
* If you connect to the Internet using DSL or Cable have a NAT router with Firewall. You can get a decent Netgear wireless router for less than £60.
* Download Kiero free software firewall and run it in Novice user mode.

As long as you do just that and don't visit any sites you know you shouldn't be, you will be fine.

Si

 

Cockles have a look at this thread for progs people use...

 

People, I salute you, thanks very much

Much better than helpdesk, who'd tell me to switch my PC on and off a few times

 

Thats standard routine.... and it does work! ...well sometimes...

 

Re-starting machines has got me out of a few scrapes

 

LOL - try it and see...

Seriously, without a firewall your unprotected box would get rinsed very, very quickly. SP2 for XP DID fix a number of problems, mostly related to the Nachi, Welchia and Blaster worms, but there are still plenty of attack vectors out there which are not patched against on a default XP SP2 install. As for anything running BELOW that patch level - fuhgeddabahdit, you wouldn't last ten minutes before blaster came knocking.

If you want proof of this I can show you my firewall logs - I get an average of one probe every 20 minutes or so looking for systems unprotected from Blaster. Thats just one worm - I'm not countingt the countless thousands of probes to ports 1026-1031 per day (messenger exploits). Its all just part of the background noise of the modern T'Internet.

As for your worries about being seen as paranoid, like the old adage says 'just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you...'

 

Normally good when using a work PC for something you shouldn;t be

 

Cockles,

As Zeb has pointed out, there are constantly pings and port scans going on.
The last time i looked at the ISA (firewall) logs, there were 4 port scans from the same IP exactly 10 minutes apart.

Follow the advice given and you will have a good level of protection.

Si

 

Would be nice if I could just wrap a huge condom around my PC and be done with it

Thanks a lot though chaps, I've downloaded AVG, Nod32 and Zone Alarm Firewall and anti-spyware, plus looking at prices at routers and firewalls on places like Amazon seem to be very good deals.

I haven't got too much knowledge to return at the moment, unless anyone wants to know anything about print production, pre press art preparation or Quark, Adobe and co.

Cheers

 

Classic, mate, classic

Just a point, don't install more than one AV, or firewall.

 

Has M$ taught us nothing about security? Defense in Depth!

With a broadband connection, a NAT firewall should be minimum. While not as safe as everyone would like to believe, you really need to be a target for someone to map out your internal network. Additionally, a software firewall is nice, and SP2 provides a lightweight, yet extremely useable one. No outbound monitoring? Big deal, I say, since the damage is likely already done -- mostly initiated by poor surfing habits. Zombies aren't made from smart, IT savvy machines, that's for sure.

After that, every Windows box that gets built gets a battery of freeware. Avast (used to be AVG), Ad-ware, SpyBot, Defender, just to name a few....

EDIT: I loved ZA until I started troubleshooting PC connectivity problems.

 

I agree with you, Zone Alarm can cause headaches these days and I tend to prefer the built in XP firewall but as you say, people slate it for it's lack of outbound packet monitoring, but as a secondary measure I have no issues with it.