deano87
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Registered: 21st Oct 06
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As above really.
Prior to formatting my HDD, was running McAfee Internet Security which included everything. Now using AVG Free and love it, however, it doesn't have a firewall.
Is Windows Firewall enough, or should I be using something like ZoneAlarm in addition to it? How much does ZoneAlarm interfere as I'm behind a router?
 
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Dean_W
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Registered: 13th Dec 05
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AVG free is rubbish imo. I had all the free aVG stuff and still had to format my HDD due to a virus.
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deano87
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 not what I wanted to hear really 
Well it picked up the virus when re-opening the .exe which infected my computer, and McAfee didn't!
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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You don't need a firewall at all, especially if you are behind a router.
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deano87
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I'm not sure what the router has or is doing in terms of blocking anything - it's a pretty old Edimax thing. Probably 8 years old.
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John
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What are you wanting it to block?
The sort of virus you gogt previously the firewall will do absolutely nothing to stop.
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deano87
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What ever a firewall is supposed to stop! 
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dannymccann
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Im behind the Windows Firewall, tbh it does nothing nowadays, as I am behind a router. I use Nod32 antivirus, its the trial version but its ok, its got 16,714,935 days left for me to decide whether I want to keep it
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Instead of installing all that shit just don't go to dodgy sites or download dodgy stuff.
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willay
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quote:
Originally posted by John
Instead of installing all that shit just don't go to dodgy sites or download dodgy stuff.
because sometimes sites that don't look dodgy are dodgy? And sometimes legit software packages can be full of shit? I hope you arent insisting that he should stay away from 'dodgy' sites so he doesn't need to run AV?
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willay
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Deano,
If you have a router which is doing a NAT function (masquerading) then it kinda functions like a firewall. Basically if you make a request out to the Internet the NAT table will remember this and allow the connection to return and thus finish the connection. If something on the Internet tries to contact you without you contacting/requesting it first then it fucks it off.
However, if you are forwarding ports to your computer from the router, then hosts on the Internet can get to you if they get your IP and port correct.
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willay
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If you are using port forwarding and you only want certain machines to contact you then look into a firewall on either the router or your PC. if your router is wireless and is open with little security then I'd consider running a software firewall on your PC just in case something nasty gets onto your LAN (say for example, your parents haeva c omputer on the same network that gets infected with a virus that scans the local subnet first for other machines to infect, a firewall would of stopped this, but so would AV hopefully when it trys to infect)
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John
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What legit software packages are full of shit?
Even if you do go to dodgy sites don't click yes to everything that pops up.
Some common sense is better than AV imo.
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willay
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quote:
Originally posted by John
What legit software packages are full of shit?
Even if you do go to dodgy sites don't click yes to everything that pops up.
Some common sense is better than AV imo.
Check google/geek news sites for when packaged software has been infected at some point of the developing/packaging process and its been handed out with a mag or some shit, its happened before.
Common sense and Computer common sense are two different things and you know that mate, they design these things to even catch out some 'IT professionals'
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John
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I know things do get past the net but thats not very often.
Av fair enough but a firewall is a waste of time still imo.
If you have downloaded and clicked to install the virus the firewall will be little use.
You don't get many haxors trying to hack you through your nat router these days either.
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willay
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haxors arent the problem, its the coders making worms which can scan a class c subnet in under 30 seconds looking for Windows machines to infect.
A firewall can still be useful if you've installed one of the most common type of viruses such as the ones that turn your PC into a DDoSing Zombie, because when it trys to connect to the botnet swarm most software firewalls will ask if you want to allow omghackers.exe to access 123.3.2.3 on port 6669 or whatever.
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willay
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If anything run Anti Virus software, you can do without a firewall but better safe then sorry.
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John
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Well as a compromise, as with a lot of things, instead of av and firewalls we need education.
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willay
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instead of av and firewalls??? you mean aswell as. The guys making this stuff, the virus writers, the crackers, the spam artists, they are 5 steps ahead of the IT security industry.
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John
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If you don't go to/click on links from dodgy sites and don't blindly download torrents/limewire/whatever, unless a legit piece of software you install has came out of the factory with something on the cd, you are at absolutely no risk.
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willay
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PMSL
and dont let anyone put a usb key into your computer and no CDRs they have burnt to show you pictures of their holiday, or accept ANY FILES on MSN, email, ftp, http etc.
Oh and make sure all SSL certificates are signed properly by the correct auth
Please john
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deano87
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Registered: 21st Oct 06
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I have no idea if it's doing any of what you said - it was set up such a long time ago.
I do know for uTorrent to work, I have to allow port forwarding, so I guess it isn't using the NAT system, which would mean I need a Firewall, such as Zone Alarm?
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John
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My computer doen't autorun anything, pictures are pictures(although there are ways coming out to infect jpegs) wouldn't accept any exe that wasn't trusted on msn, emails go via gmail.
Internet explorer has about a million things to stop you going to suspect sites.
Opera tells you the site is suspect and you have to agree to go to it.
Google comes up telling you something is suspect and you have to agree.
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John
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If you are using port forwarding it is NAT.
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willay
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If your IP starts with 172. or 10. or 192.168 then you are probably using NAT deano.
[Edited on 09-09-2008 by willay]
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