Firewall Question

 

Message Edited by MACHADO458 on 07-17-200612:04 AM

Would this apply to a Linksys Cable/DSL router also? i'm not using it and I'm not currently networked but I could hook up my old computer. I had purchased the router since a salesman told me I needed it after I got on cable. Then someone else said I didn't. I was confused so I never did anything with it.

I'm currently using Norton Internet Security 2005 (with spam blocker, privacy and parental controls turned off since it was too slow, and it wasn't catching spam anyway).

I don't like Norton since it seems to be slowing things down and even malfunctioned a couple of days ago so that I wasn't able to access the internet at all--except to run live up date several times--and after that I couldn't connect at all either via Eudora email or Firefox browser. I finally called my isp--cox cable to make sure their system was ok. The tech asked me to turn off Norton for a little while. When I did, I could connect, but it still didn't fix it--since I didn't want to be online without it.

Tonight I just turned on cox's spam blocker and so far (with only 4 spam emails at this time of night) it correctly put all of them in the spam folder I'd set up). And it seems to be working very fast. Of course the real test will be at a time of day when I get a lot of spam, but so far so good.

So might it be a good idea to hook up the router and possibly get zone alarm and turn off Norton's firewall--and I suppose the other related features like outbreak alert. Would that tend to work any faster, or have less problems than Norton does?

Mikey10010192 wrote:

I have a shared internet connection through a router. No software firewall. What level of protection does this offer? I use AVG AV.

Hi Mikey10010192,

Speaking of anti-virus!

Tips for using AVG 7.0 at http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/avg7.htm by mvps.org on AVG 7.0

If you’re a Windows user you need an Anti-Virus. I do not recommend the current top sellers: Norton Anti-virus or McAfee. They’re bloated and less effective than others. Check any anti-virus before you buy by visiting the independent Virus Bulletin : Independent Anti-virus and Anti-spam Advice at http://www.virusbtn.com/ Any anti-virus you choose should also be certified by the Standards for commercial security products are set by ICSA Labs at http://www.icsalabs.com/ (all the big commercial products are).

* If you can’t afford, or don’t want to buy, an anti-virus program I recommend the Free Version of AVG from Grisoft. It’s fairly accurate but to reduce bloat you might want to turn off the background tasks.

* The best commercial anti-virus is NOD32 at http://www.eset.com/ from Eset. It’s relatively inexpensive and has a 100% effective rating from the Virus Bulletin.

Symantec’s Anti-Virus Research Center at http://sarc.com/ is a good source of virus information. The site also lists hoaxes and offers many free virus removal tools. Most anti-virus companies maintain similar sites. Unfortunately, there’s no standard for virus names, so you may have to look around to find the right page.