limbo Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 HI Guys, When I purchased my new laptop with Windows XP on it (yeah!!), I was advised to install a Firewall. Can you guys explain to me what a Firewall does and what are good free ones. I was advised to use Zone Alarm. Thans in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Before I cut and paste something from a a manual, a very high level explanation: Firewalls are used to regulate incoming access requests. Hackers rarely go into into people's PCs but some do that. Firewall in your case makes sense only if you are on ADSL connection 24x7. That might expose you. Otherwise, with dial up, don't worry. XP Comes with inbuilt firewall (Internet Connection Firewall) , no need to buy another one but you could if you wanted to. More technically: ICF is considered a "stateful" firewall. A stateful firewall is one that monitors all aspects of the communications that cross its path and inspects the source and destination address of each message that it handles. To prevent unsolicited traffic from the public side of the connection from entering the private side, ICF keeps a table of all communications that have originated from the ICF computer. In the case of a single computer, ICF tracks traffic originated from the computer. When used in conjunction with ICS, ICF tracks all traffic originated from the ICF/ICS computer and all traffic originated from private network computers. All inbound traffic from the Internet is compared against the entries in the table. Inbound Internet traffic is only allowed to reach the computers in your network when there is a matching entry in the table that shows that the communication exchange began from within your computer or private network. Communications that originate from a source outside ICF computer, such as the Internet, are dropped by the firewall unless an entry in the Services tab is made to allow passage. Rather than sending you notifications about activity, ICF silently discards unsolicited communications, stopping common hacking attempts such as port scanning. Such notifications could be sent frequently enough to become a distraction. Instead, ICF can create a security log to view the activity that is tracked by the firewall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Hi, "Otherwise, with dial up, don't worry." I disagree. I'm on dial-up, but there is no way I go online without a firewall. It doesn't just protect you against attacks from outside, but also from those coming from your own machine. Besides the overhead of running a Firewall is negliable, so why not keep one up and running? Sanuk! PS ZoneAlarm is fine, it's what I use as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Allright, Thanks. I'll download ZoneAlarm than. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 >I disagree. Next time somebody ask a question that needs an answer to be elaborated, after leaving it to rest for 2 days, I let you type two pages and then come and say "I disagree". :: Of course a Firewall can do only good. The tone of the original message was that limbo is being told it's almost a mandatory thing and that they were trying to sell him something he knew nothing about. If he's going to use what comes with XP he should be able to set it up himself. Otherwise, in addition to paying for it, he may need help to set it up. That's why I thought it's not worth it. I run without it and nobody I know has firewall running. Never opened a mail from an unknown sender, never played games, never downloaded anything that's not from MS, HP, from my bank... If you stay clear from dangers, it's safe. Running without a firewall is not like unprotected sex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palatkik Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Yep, I would download a free one for dial up. XP seems limited on its protection. I like Zone Alarm and Sygate. Use the latter now as more stable with some programs I use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limbo Posted January 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Hi TTM, your former neighbour told me about Zone Alarm, but I just wanted to check what it exactly does, and your explanation helped very well Now since it seems that it won't hurt to install it, I just did that and it's running now. Unfortunately I used to open attachments on my old laptop that caused damage, so hopefully this will protect me a bit. Thanks again though for explaining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 >> Of course a Firewall can do only good. << I had severe problems after installing Zone Alarm running SAP and Oracle on my notebook (caused/ cost me two days to find it out). >> I run without it and nobody I know has firewall running. << I run without anything too and I have never had a problem during the years. However, I use Mozilla for browsing and E-Mail and I am running anti-spyware-progs from time to time, so I think I am am somewhat less open for malicious things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soongmak Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 I run without anything too and I have never had a problem during the years. However, I use Mozilla for browsing and E-Mail and I am running anti-spyware-progs from time to time, so I think I am am somewhat less open for malicious things. I think this is a big mistake. IE and outlook express can also make your system vulnerable if you don't use the programs themselves. Besides, the software you use has nothing to do with firewalls. A firewall should make you invisible for people out there probing your ports. Just check Gibson's ShieldsUp! to find out how vulnerable you are. Cheers, soongmak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soongmak Posted January 22, 2004 Report Share Posted January 22, 2004 Unfortunately I used to open attachments on my old laptop that caused damage, so hopefully this will protect me a bit. A firewall will not protect you against malicious emails, only an anti-virus program can partially protect you against those. It's simply best only to open attachments that you have asked for and after you have scanned them with your up-to-date virusscanner. A Firewall comes in handy to protect you from unsollicited inbound traffic, as well as obnoxious programs on your computer trying to access the internet without your permission. It's simply amazing how many programs try to connect to the net without your asking. To see your firewall in action, check out the ShieldsUp! test. They will try if your computer accepts unsollicited communications from the internet. Do it twice, once with and once without your firewall active, and you will see that the firewall will protect you (at least partially!) from unwelcome port probing. Cheers, soongmak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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