The Firewall
My little group of computer security consultants call ourselves "The Firewall." I must say that we are here to help you protect yourself and your computer from falling into the hands of those with malicious intent. Recently I've simply been posting random IT and Computer based info but hopefully, in the future, I will be able to post more directly security related info to you. First, A firewall.
A lot of people get Norton System Works, which uses Symantec, or McAffee's antivirus and think they're ok...This is far from true, keeping you computer safe and secure takes more than just that crap. First you do need a good antivirus and for that I suggest either Norton, not systemworks, or Panda Platinum. Panda is amazing because it updated every day and it can usually prevent you from getting something while the others simply piss about. As for a firewall a lot of people get Zone Alarm but upon trying to bypass this program I found that it was horrible and easily beaten. I suggest Kerio personal firewall which yo ucan download here. It's much more secure and easy to work with. On top of that you'll need a decent ad-blocker, popup-blocker, and spyware-blocker. Personally I just use Firefox and that prevents 90% of those things. On top of that I have several plugins that give me the other 10% blocking.
If you have any questions or want suggestions on what plugins to use drop me a line.
AK
A lot of people get Norton System Works, which uses Symantec, or McAffee's antivirus and think they're ok...This is far from true, keeping you computer safe and secure takes more than just that crap. First you do need a good antivirus and for that I suggest either Norton, not systemworks, or Panda Platinum. Panda is amazing because it updated every day and it can usually prevent you from getting something while the others simply piss about. As for a firewall a lot of people get Zone Alarm but upon trying to bypass this program I found that it was horrible and easily beaten. I suggest Kerio personal firewall which yo ucan download here. It's much more secure and easy to work with. On top of that you'll need a decent ad-blocker, popup-blocker, and spyware-blocker. Personally I just use Firefox and that prevents 90% of those things. On top of that I have several plugins that give me the other 10% blocking.
If you have any questions or want suggestions on what plugins to use drop me a line.
AK
posted by Akiratima at 5/25/2005 01:58:00 PM
2 Comments:
Ak, I agree with the majority of your post, but disagree with the advice to use an ad blocker. I’m an internet security consultant and frequently lecture on the topic of Virus and Adware protection and prevention. Blocking the popup is really not the problem, it's similar to changing the breaks on your car over and over again, when its really the break router that’s in need of changing. You have to address the root of the problem and kill the little bug that will continue to tie up system resources each time it unsuccessfully trying to launch the popup. To do this I suggest Webroots Spysweeper. For many years I have used it side by side with MacAfee’s Online Virus Protection solution with added Firewall. Unfortunately both MacAfee and Webroot are trying to swallow more than they can chew. MacAfee should stick to what they does best and drop the confusing navigation and, system and network tweek portion. Webroot, stick to killing adware, and loose the virus portion of its software. Eliminating these extra features takes a little work, which is unfortunate. I can still remember when all you had to do is tell a client to put in the disk and with a few clicks have both applications up and running without having to change the default settings. Always a plus especially when dealing with non web savvy clients. Oh, where have the good old days gone?
Thank you for your very informative and poignant post. The good old days have sadly gone by the wayside due to the massive scripting boom thats happened within the last 7 years. Sure there were still problems before then, but not nearly in the excess they are now. My point in the ad blocker use is to prevent it from loading all-together rather than stopping it after it has loaded. In firefox the adblock extention works wonders because it simply skips over loading that which you've blocked and you can wildcard your selections to help prevent the ads from loading from other parts of the site. I do like spy sweeper, but I do not believe the simple combination of MacAfee and Spysweeper isn't nearly enough protection, especially with the websites of today.
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