Avast WEBforum
Other => General Topics => Topic started by: waxie on March 30, 2004, 04:15:39 PM
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IS it necessary to have a firewall installed with dial-up connection?
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by right...i think it should be fine....but it's always better to be safer... ;)
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Not necessary,but can do no wrong if you have one.
Ask some your friend if anyone has DSL or cable to download it for you (you can do this by yourself if you don't care about the bill ;) ).
ZoneAlarm 4.5 Free or Sygate 5.5 Free are very good firewalls.
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Thanks for the replys,as always,I find this forum most helpful.
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waxie
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Thanks for the replys,as always,I find this forum most helpful.
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waxie
no worries...welcome to avast community
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Is it necessary to have a firewall installed with dial-up connection?
I do recommend: virus/worms protection, privacy, security (hackers)...
No disavantages ... but, take care, you need a good combination of antivirus and firewall... some are incompatible.
I suggest avast! + ZoneAlarm
You can try others that are good too: Sygate, Outpost or Kerio (last versions).
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Anyone who has an internet connection especially an always on type is a damn fool if they don't run as an absolute minimum a firewall and a virus scanner.
Chris
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an AV yes, but you can secure your WIN better than with a firewall, e.g. doing Windowsupdates, and disabling unnecessary services ;)
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Hmmm - Well if you manage to acquire a undetected trojan - how do you know its running if you haven't got a firewall running ?
Manual inspection of the registry, running processes and directory contents - I don't think so somehow
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Hmmm - Well if you manage to acquire a undetected trojan - how do you know its running if you haven't got a firewall running ?
an FW MIGHT help on trivial malware, but the possible holes in it are huge.
Any decent sophisticated trojan will either bypass the firewall or kill it on installation
I'd rather not klick on anything suspicious.
and supervising the usual or not so usual startup-entries is a good approach, I mean
;)
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I think we both agree that basic caution in not opening anything one thinks suspicious is essential.
However, although firewalls may not be perfect, they do constitute a vital part of anyone's armoury of tools that should be deployed to protect against the hooligans out there :)
After all a firewall does no harm and has positive benefits - so why not use one ?
Kind Regards
Chris
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Of course,
it's just that some people think they're 100% protected with a firewall and consider it like some piece of Set&forget protection.
A firewall imho gives you a false sense of security and needs some knowledge of what it can, and what it can't do + constant maintaining
also as to why not use one: browse the web as to the problems ZA leaves/left when not properly uninstalled ;D ;D ;)
or the new very destructive witty worm spreading through a bug in BlackIce -FW ;)
otherwise, we agree :)
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actually the flaw was fixed in the march 19 version of black ICE. people just have not updated yet so Black ICE is perfectly safe :)
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BlackICE is terrible in terms of security. Use ZoneAlarm instead...
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Way to go RejZor :)
Chris
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It's just that some people think they're 100% protected with a firewall and consider it like some piece of Set&forget protection.
A firewall imho gives you a false sense of security and needs some knowledge of what it can, and what it can't do + constant maintaining
Also as to why not use one: browse the web as to the problems ZA leaves/left when not properly uninstalled ;D ;D ;)
or the new very destructive witty worm spreading through a bug in BlackIce -FW ;)
Hey whocares, what do you have to maintain in the firewall software besides 'update' and know what programs have access rights and/or server rights? What kind of maintainence are you talking about?
And, what ZA left behing after uninstalling that is so dangerous? Is it dangerous even it is not uninstalled?
I think I'm that stupid man you refer above - the one of 'Set&forget protection' -, I have to confess I'm not worried about firewall all the time. Does I have to?
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Hackers don't really bother to try to gain access to a 56K modem.
They KNOW, it's not worth the effort.
Especially since your IP address does/can change everytime you connect.
I used to have 56K dial up access connecting at 48.9Kbps with a shut down company called Barrie Connex. Look Communications took over.
Now, I'm on High Speed DSL with Bell Sympatico.ca.
A firewall is not really worth it when it comes to dial-up access.
Plus IP addresses that are assigned to dial-up users are in a COMPLETELY different range than those with Cable/DSL connections.
A hacker knows this.... and will not bother with your connection.
There are FAR too many fat juicy unprotected Cable/DSL connections to go after.
My friend, I would have to say that you are pretty safe. ;D
I've had dial-up for years without a firewall and not ONCE was I ever attacked. I know a hell of a lot about computers...the apps, the core hardware..ect.
Of course... you can NEVER have too much protection. But investing in one or getting one of those freebie ones off the net is not really worth it unless you have a dedicated 24/7 dial-up/ISDN connection.
Hope this helps?
The decision is yours. ;)
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Thanks,I thought that I once read sowewhere about the IP Address with dial-up, but wasn't real sure .
Thanks for all the help !!
Waxie
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Only slightly O/T, but hopefully still reasonably close to home -- I'm on dialup now, and whenever I get around to upgrading it'll definitely be DSL not cable. My ISP recommends disconnecting DSL when not in use, and dynamic IP is standard with each reconnection to his DSL same as for a dialup.
I asked my cable people about whether they offered dynamic IP's (a very few cable cos. do, bless them) -- I had to talk to 6 different service reps before I finally found one who even knew what I was talking about. The answer, finally, was yes if needed -- but at a quite stiff increase in rate.
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Charter Communications uses dynamic IP's on all their connections. I have the 35MBPS connection of theirs for $34.50 a month and they allow me to use on all computers in my house with great tech support
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Dynamic IPs are irrelevant. An IP is an IP. Once you are online you have a fixed IP for that session.
Cable and ADSL users are more vulnerable because of the length of time that the IP lease is maintained.
Modem dialups are not less vulnerable to the hooligans. Remember, an IP is an IP period.
If you don't have a firewall, vurus scanning software etc. then your machine is vulnerable.
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Perhaps a little more explanation might be in order.
1) TCPIP is a point to point connection process. In the same that every Ethernet card on the planet has a unique number so does an Internet connection. As soon as an internet connection is achieved via an ISP that machine is visible to everyone on the Internet.
2) The magic identifier is the IP number dynamically allocated by your ISP to your computer. Once an Internet connection is established your computer is visible to any computer connected to the Internet.
3) It does not matter where you are in the world, an IP address of - for instance - 192.168.0.1 - establishes a peer to peer connection. By definition, an Internet connected computer must be running a TCPIP stack. If its possible to find an IP then probing of the machine is simplistic. Only a firewall can alert you to incoming probes of this nature.
4) Run a firewall or run the risk.
Chris
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nice job chris... :)
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You're quite welcome waxie! ;D
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Those last 2 post by Chris (newey) were very nice ... and correct! :)
BTW, if you use ZoneAlarm, there is a reporting utility for it called VisualZone that will tell you much more about the attempts to enter your computer. Do a google search for it! :)
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thanks charleyo
guys..you can get it from here
http://www.visualizesoftware.com/
i have not try it though