Firewalls/Security??

[OldYoda]

:confused: Finally got broadband in my area(Comcast) and not sure what to do about a firewall. Tried ZoneAlarm - seemed overwhelmed by the pop-up warnings and really didn't understand them all. Need some recommendations - what to use and any input on set-up.

[setiguy2000]

Regarding a great firewall, and it's FREE! Sygate Personal Firewall is the way to go. It really doesn't slam one with a lot of popups. Just when you first install it, it will ask for the programs that access the internet. After that it just basically sits in the system tray and works like a charm. It's very user friendly... plus if you run into questions it has a good help section.

Go to: http://soho.sygate.com/products/shield_ov.htm

I have been using it for 8 months and like it quite a bit.

Setiguy2000
:)

[BipolarBill]

Welcome to Sysopt!

We'll need to know whether you have an Ethernet or USB modem. If it's Ethernet, consider a NAT router like the Linksys BEFSR41 or the SMC Barricade. That covers incoming really well. Outgoing trojan/worm activity will still need monitoring.

Be patient with ZA - it pays off.

[jmichna]

Originally posted by OldYoda
:confused: Finally got broadband in my area(Comcast) and not sure what to do about a firewall. Tried ZoneAlarm - seemed overwhelmed by the pop-up warnings and really didn't understand them all. Need some recommendations - what to use and any input on set-up. As BiPolarBill said... don't give up on ZA too quickly. Those extraneous pop-up warnings are configurable within ZA, and can be turned down to report only "probable" intrusion probings, and not just all pings (incl your ISP's "stay alive" probes). You can even configure ZA to give no pop warnings at all.

Also, I second Bill's NAT router recommendation (hopefully, you're not using a USB modem). I have a small home network (3 pcs, Linksys BEFSR41 NAT router, DSL modem, and all pcs have ZAPro (latest version), the router is configured to natively use ZAPro, and we use Norton's AV2002 program on all three pcs and keep the virus defs up-to-date always (guess I'm a bit paranoid).
jmichna

[BJUK]

The popups in Zone Alarm can be disabled if you prefer not to know.