Do I need a firewall?

[Gomer]

A little about my deal. I surf via a decent 56K connection. What little speed I have is valuable to me. I also do a little online gaming and download MP3's via napster and gnutella, primarily napster. Others accessing the net include AIM, ICQ, and MSM.

What has gotten me thinking about the firewall is the 911 virus. I have been reading up on it and it seems easy to protect against, but who knows what kinds of relatives it will spawn. It opened my eyes to the fact that the internet is no longer bounded by what you download. I went to GRC.com and at shields up, all my ports are closed. I am using PC-cillin 6.0 with the latest build. There is little personal info on my computer that could cause me any grief if it were to fall into the wrong hands, but I don't want to get wiped out.

Do I need a firewall? ZoneAlarm 2 looks good, but will it slow things down? Am I in any real danger with my ports closed? The main thing I am worried about is ZA slowing my connection. Every K in 56K counts.

I have been reading the posts about lazines leading to questions, but I have been doing my homework and I am now seeking opinions. Any input will help. BTW I am not suffering from any forms of paranoia.

[Amarok]

a firewall is always a good idea regardless if you are on a dial-up connection. Zone Alarm will not slow you down any (has not slowed me down)

They are by no means the end all and be all in protection. People can still get through. But it will help stop some of the script kiddes (not a real hacker if they want in bad enough)

Hope this helps

Happy surfing.

Amarok

[Morpheus1964]

I was prompted the other day to install ZA myself, as I went to www.secure-me.net (http://www.secure-me.net) and found an oen port 12,345 (NetBus!!). So, I decided to install ZA, regardless of my current 56K connection.

Strangely, I have noticed an INCREASE in performance. I find myself wondering if it has anything to do with a LACK of NetBus?? or perhaps the firewall blocking a lotta junk I don't want anyway.

Installation was painless, and getting everything to work took all of about 30 seconds...so I'd say, if you're worried, give ZoneAlarm a try...

[sparki]

zone alarm is great (sofar) i have had no probs running it. WHen it was first installed i would loads of attempts to get to me. but after running it for a few weeks now hardly any attempts show up.

[grandslammer]

Works good for me, but I have to run it less securely to get along with AOL. Not that I use AOL, but wife and three kids do, so, whatta 'ya gonna do?

M

[dos7]

I just recently downloaded zonealarm, i like it, it's a real good connection watcher.

gomer, you want, if possible to have your ports "nonexistent" to other computers, not just closed.

[jadison]

Zone Alarm: get it!!


-jd-

[bell1]

Hey Gomer
I use both BlackIce Defender and ZoneAlarm 2.0 .Both work real well.
BTW I once read that: "Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean no one is out to get you".

[Toadman]

Sparki, that's interesting about how intruder pings would tail off after awhile. Guess my knuckles would get sore as well, knocking on the door of an empty house. I upgraded from zonealarm1 to ver 2.0, and had a flurry of attempted breakins for 3-4 days.
now maybe 1-2 every 24 hours. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif