A note on virus protection for the members

[sportVeloce]

After reading about all the peeps that got hit with the various worms and viruses floating around I thought I would post some helpful information.

Everyone without exception should be running a firewall! A firewall blocks off pretty much all the ports that hackers use to access your computer. It also stops the Sobig variety of worms that use a Windows exploit to get on your computer.

I recommend ZoneLabs - Zone Alarm - its free and easy to use. It includes popup blocking and email scanning. So its more than just a firewall.
http://www.zonealarm.com -> Go to the home/office link, then to ZoneAlarm (its free and works very very well).

Next is an Anti-virus program. Norton is good. The Norton Internet Security package is good value. AVG Grisoft is a free Anti-Virus program that will protect your computer from viruses. I dont recommend this virus scanner, but its better than nothing. http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

You all should testing your computers security at http://security.norton.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym Its easy, fast and free. It shows where you are exposed and provides you with some useful information.

[TT]

I second the opinions on ZA :) I use it since I have ADSL and it's perfect IMO.

[stracing]

i've just installed norton internet security. how well does that hold up?
the firewall bit i mean

[sbbs]

Thanks for the advice guys. :D I'm downloading it right now.

Just did the scan and found out that one file is infected. :shock:

[sportVeloce]

i've just installed norton internet security. how well does that hold up? the firewall bit i mean

The firewall is good. Its only got a simple task. The only vunerability that i found was with Port 25 which is left open. Port 25 is open if your running an email server. I recommend that you make a new rule in the settings to close it off. Other than that minor detail, it is excellent. It never returns pings, it runs your ports stealthed, has regular updates, keeps you informed on what people are trying to access your computer. On dialup I get at least 5 probes testing my security a night. And that is not with a pressence on P2P or IM, just a normal net connection. The attacks are random, thats why a firewall is so important. I had one computer out of a heap at work that did not have a local firewall (as we are already behind 10+ on the network) and I got the sobig worm. If i had of had ZoneAlarm I wouldnt have had to piss about for 30 mins cleaning the computer.

Anyway, Norton Personal Firewall (part of Norton Inet Security) is very good. I highly recommend it! Its single best feature is that if you do get a virus or trojan it does not let your computer act as a server. It not only prevents in-bound attacks, but it warns you about out-bound servers opening ports and exposing your system. The WinXP standard firewall just blocks in-bound.

[666fast]

i've just installed norton internet security. how well does that hold up?
the firewall bit i mean

It works great, I haven't had a single problem with it. Heh, the add trashcan thing rules. I never get popups, and on some sites, I don't see any ads.
It works great though, very easy to setup and use.

[AlienDB7]

You can get one of those dsl routers as an alternative to firewall. By default, it blocks all incoming traffic beside ping. Software firewall is more advanced, but your computer is still physically connection to the net. Hardware firewalls are the best, but they can cost a fortune.. not to mention the hassle to config and maintain one.

For anti-virus, I use AVP (www.avp.ch). Norton failed on me couple of years ago, I've been using AVP ever since. The daily update is rather nice. Most AV programs are pretty good nowadays, just make sure you run the update at least once a week.

[geekdiggy]

i run zone alarm on my computer and so far it's done the trick and never let me down.

however today things have been fishy. i use a good popup blocker but for some reason today i've been getting popups (the same four in particular) that can't be blocked. and when i close their windows, my windows explorer acts up and everything on my computer halts for a couple of minutes. i've only been online for a couple hours but it's happened about 8 times. it's......yeah fishy

i'll come back later with the links these popups contain. maybe sue the companies or something idunno