Re: Norton 2005 & ZoneAlarm

MikeB wrote:

> I disagree.

Well, hm ...

> I think that you definetely need a personal firewall.

I'm pretty sure that he doesn't.

> Many times you will have adware on your computer and these programs
> will try to get on the internet.

Software doesn't get installed by miracle. You have only on your
computer what you install yourself.

> With ZoneAlarm you always have to option to deny them,

No.

> and then you can use another program to get rid of them.

You only need to get rid of something, that you installed before.

> You also need an antivirus program at all times.

No.

> In my opinion both are required of any PC connected to the Internet.

No. Shut down all unwanted services, use safe client software, practice
safe computing.

> In
> the first ten min. of a brand new computer connected to the Internet,
> people try to hack it.

While it is correct that the risk of a compromise of a system within a
very short time in our times of malware activities is high, the big
pink letters (Don't panic) on the guide are still valid and measures can
be taken that will overcome these risks. The first points among these are
to lock down the box (this can be done offline) and to install all patches
(this can be difficult without a network connection) before it is
connected to the net. On windows systems the built-in packet filter is
quite allright to stop access to the box from remote.

Just remember Dr. Struan 'Don't get bitten' Sutherland.

Wolfgang
Received on Thu Sep 29 19:53:33 2005