I generally like Norton products, but I do not like their firewall. I've found it to be very flakey.
As for a software firewall, the only one that I run is what comes with XP, but then I'm always behind a sturdy hardware firewall.
Windows firewall software opinions plz....
I'm in the market this xmas season for new XP firewall software. I've been running Norton '06 for almost a year (subscription ends < 30 days) and I'll be damned if I renew it (personal reasons with their customer support). I also run Diamond Process Guard, but I'm in need of opinions from those of you on a better option.
The Pro's of Norton that I liked:
-Ability to block individual executables the from internet
-"Relatively" lightweight on my system (I haven't used hardly any of the 365 day subscription to the AV as it is too heavy)
The Con's:
-Customer service sucks
-Occasionally flakes out on me trying to set itself to Auto Config for programs
Many thanx for your recommendations!
dd if=/dev/swc666 of=/dev/wyze
I generally like Norton products, but I do not like their firewall. I've found it to be very flakey.
As for a software firewall, the only one that I run is what comes with XP, but then I'm always behind a sturdy hardware firewall.
A third party security audit is the IT equivalent of a colonoscopy. It's long, intrusive, very uncomfortable, and when it's done, you'll have seen things you really didn't want to see, and you'll never forget that you've had one.
Seconded. Though to be honest, I only have one Windows machine, and it's only on when I'm playing Battlefield 2142.Originally Posted by streaker69
Of course, if you really wanted to have some fun, go to Wal-Mart late at night and ask the greeter if they could help you find trashbags, roll of carpet, rope, quicklime, clorox and a shovel. See if they give you any strange looks. --Streaker69
It can be as flakey as their overseas customer support!
I'm protected at home, but my primary reason for having to have something more is because a lot of times I have to plug into a clients network or sometimes a public net when meeting with a client, and I'm without my security blanket...
dd if=/dev/swc666 of=/dev/wyze
Simple Nomad stated at Shmoocon a couple years ago that the WinXP firewall is actually a pretty good one. That was a good enough statement for me.
A third party security audit is the IT equivalent of a colonoscopy. It's long, intrusive, very uncomfortable, and when it's done, you'll have seen things you really didn't want to see, and you'll never forget that you've had one.
I still need more than the XP firewall... a lot of the time I need to block internet access to programs like iTunes (when I run 3rd party software on my jailbroken iPhone), IIS needs to be blocked 1/2 the time, SQL, and a few other programs.
I may just wind up renewing Norton
dd if=/dev/swc666 of=/dev/wyze
How about a vmware image of smoothwall or ipcop? Set it up so the physical network port is the vmware image and then set windows to proxy through the vmware image. Should work, I think.
Of course, if you really wanted to have some fun, go to Wal-Mart late at night and ask the greeter if they could help you find trashbags, roll of carpet, rope, quicklime, clorox and a shovel. See if they give you any strange looks. --Streaker69
I'm running an IPCop box on my home net. The only problem with running it as VM is that I primarily design with it and I need all of the 2GB's of RAM, so when I'm with a client on location and I have to edit this/that 'live', VM is going to suck the life out of it.
But thanx Barry, that's actually a super cool idea that I have yet to do. Actually I might give it a whirl this afternoon just to see how much in resources it needs(Still won't solve the issue of blocking inet access to certain exe's though ;>| )
dd if=/dev/swc666 of=/dev/wyze
Actually I don't even know if it's possible to config IPCop in VM to config my wifi @ a public hotspot
dd if=/dev/swc666 of=/dev/wyze
That's true.. That's how I get super "fast" download speed at work. One of the guys that has a non-packetshaped connection has an ipcop vmware image that he fires up when I need to download a big file and the boss isn't around. Usually I can just ask for access, but he's the only one who can unblock my computer. So I connect to the ipcop that is on a computer that's not blocked. Works pretty slick. We have dhcp turned off so I have to manually set up the connection, keeps the kids from latching on as well.
Of course, if you really wanted to have some fun, go to Wal-Mart late at night and ask the greeter if they could help you find trashbags, roll of carpet, rope, quicklime, clorox and a shovel. See if they give you any strange looks. --Streaker69
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