Subject:Firewall advice.

Posted by: MyST

Date:11/17/2001 1:32:11 PM

I want firewall protection on my PC. I was recommended a "router" as a better alternative to software.
Right now it would only be used as a firewall, but later I plan on getting a second PC for family use, and keep this one a DAW.
I'm connected to the net via Cable modem right now, but later I will be going back to 56k (I know, I know...but it's a money issue.). :(
So, I,m looking for advice on a good product for my needs. Any recommendations?

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Rockitglider

Date:11/17/2001 1:40:39 PM

http://www.zonealarm.com/

Hello,

Go here to zonealarms and you can get a free firewall to use untill you find out what you want to do. This is a great program, it's a little hard to configure at first, and it has alot of popup windows for a while untill you get it configured, but all fire walls do that. You may even find that this one is all you need.

Good luck, Rockit

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: MyST

Date:11/17/2001 3:06:13 PM

Thanks Rockit, you come through again!

Later.

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:11/17/2001 5:27:15 PM

Rockit is right on the money (again). :o)

Pathetic with the rates of cable (and other high-speed) Internet service, isn't it? Heard they're going to do another rate hike in my area next year. Jerks. I just love monopolies (note my sarcasm). At least it's a tax write-off for me.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: MyST

Date:11/17/2001 9:45:32 PM

The problem is that I checked out Defender's site and their forum. It seems that people are finding incompatibilities with Defender and Norton. I have Norton System Works on my PC. I don't really want to try, and end up crashing.

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Rockitglider

Date:11/17/2001 10:40:08 PM

Hello again,

I have Black Ice Defender on my work computer W/Windows 2K, and I don't have any problems.
On my home computer, I have Norton everything, Works Antivirus, and Internet Security, I also installed Zone Alarm along side of all this just to try Zone Alarm, and didn't have any problems.

I don't know what kind of configuration you have, but I don't think you'll have any problems.
Let us know what happens.

Rockit

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:11/18/2001 7:53:37 AM

Probably a lot of you won't agree with this, but allow me to relate my
personal (software) firewall experiences so far. We started installing
ZoneAlarm on a few of our online PCs at work, and it did start detecting
a few hits. Over the next few weeks, the hits started increasing in
frequency. At the end of the month, each PC was being probed 30 to 60
times a day, as compared to 5 or so at first. Based on this, we intalled
ZoneAlarm on most of the rest of the PCs, and the same pattern was
repeated, more and more hits as time went on. It got to the point where
our network was being seriously compromised by all the extra traffic and
our internet access was noticeably slower. Each computer was also
running much slower simply because it was also running ZoneAlarm.

Then i started analyzing the probes and discovered that at least 99.99%
were attacks that our PCs wouldn't have responded to anyway. They were
all aimed at server functions that our users' PCs didn't support, and
would have simply ignored if not for the firewall was not installed. The
very few attacks that our PCs would have responded to (NetBIOS) would
have been ignored by the PCs anyway because the attackers weren't in
our local IP block.

So at the end of two months, we had a network that was almost dead,
an administrative headache, and calls every day from users complaining
about how slow their computers had become recently. It looks like the
only thing the firewall software accomplished for us was to make us a
more attractive target for probing. We removed the firewall software from
all computers except one, just to continue monitoring. Our network
traffic has dropped back to normal (although it took about 3 months)
and our users are happy again. In the year since then we have found
absolutely zero evidence of anyone gaining access to our PCs from
outside.

In my professional opinion, the whole personal firewall thing is mostly
hype.

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: MyST

Date:11/18/2001 9:10:41 AM

Do you think a router will slow me down?

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Rockitglider

Date:11/18/2001 10:59:59 AM

Hello,

Actualy, I do agree that the Fire Wall thing is mostly hype.
And most hackers aren't looking for home users anyway. They're looking to knock off big Corps. to get their reputation built up. But there is the Punk Hackers that, without knowing what they're doing can cause alot of damage.

And about the network thing, I run the network at my workplace, and I only installed the firewall on the server, and at Router entry, I don't think every computer needs it.
I also wonder if the firewall companies send out mock trojan hits to make you think that your firewall is doing something to protect you. Just something to think about.

See ya, Rockit

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: MyST

Date:11/18/2001 11:12:46 AM

Alot of people wonder if Anti-virus companies send out viruses also. To create there own market.
Re: the firewall, that is why I was looking at a router. I'll have two PCs in the near future, so isn't that like hitting two birds with one stone (no letters from animal lovers please, no birds were harmed during the writing of this post)? I'll have firewall protection with the ability to have the net on both PCs. Also, that eliminates the possibilty of conflicting software, and the 79$ (Can.) yearly renewal costs.

Thanks for all the input so far...Very appreciated.

Later.

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Rockitglider

Date:11/18/2001 11:02:56 PM

Hello again,

I bought a Linksys Router, and it comes with a firewall software built in, Don't know how good it is, but it does something or they would'nt supply it. So maybe, yeah that would likely be the way to go for you.

See ya, Rockit

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:11/19/2001 6:29:12 AM

Sounds like a good buy. Hardware firewalls take the load off of your own
PC, and since the filtering is done at your internet connection, which is
probably pretty slow anyway, it really won't slow down your internal
communication at all. It's also much more secure than trying to protect
yourself at the PC.

I'm very impressed with Linksys stuff. I recommend them highly.

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: vanblah

Date:11/19/2001 9:59:36 AM

You could set up an old PII or Pentium machine with two network cards. One card would be connected to your ISP and the other would be set up with a static IP address and connected to a hub (along with your other machines) for your home "network." This machine would have the firewall software of your choice, and there are many freeware personal proxy software packages out there (Analog-X has one) so all of your machines can see the 'net. This gives you much more control over your network, and you won't have any software conflicts, nor will you be giving up valuable resources on your DAW for a software firewall.

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:11/19/2001 10:34:09 AM

Routers are a good choice, mostly because the router takes your Internet IP address and masks all the PC's underneath it, essentially hiding your PC's.

Your router is actually the only thing the Internet sees. I'm sure good hackers can maybe get around it, but no hacker worth his (or her?) talent would actually care, and the script kiddies wouldn't go any further simply because they don't have the talent to.

The only thing bad about routers is that multiple computers accessing the Internet from the same location through a router will not be able to use services at the same time that require a unique logon per IP address.

Like I said before, routers only use one real IP address and assign internal addresses to the client PC's, therefore the client PC's are using the same IP address to access the Internet.

What all of you said was very interesting, both about software firewalls and antivirus programs. Food for thought indeed.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: MyST

Date:11/19/2001 11:10:21 AM

Thanks all for your excellent advice!
I think a router is the way to go for me, and I'll definitely check out the Linksys.
Also, the idea about an old PII didn't go unoticed, it's just that I'll be running out of room in my apartement.

Thanks again!

Subject:RE: Firewall advice.

Reply by: Styrerra

Date:11/19/2001 9:05:26 PM

Software based firewalls (ie Zonealarm) don't really do much and are really no match for hardware based firewalls.

As for the hype about firewalls. IF you don't have one someone can use your ports and do damage to other parts of the net. But the trail they find will lead back to you and your IP address.