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Security for Windows 98

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by eric forward

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I'm looking to install a product that maintains security while I'm on the Internet. What's the best product available and at what sort of price? (also, how easy is it to maintain?).

7 replies

by donaldsimpson.co.uk

Hi,

If you mean a personal firewall, I don't think you can beat Zone Alarm (www.zonelabs.com, I think), and it's free, too!

I have recently installed something from www.freedom.net (free again!) that looks quite good, but haven't had time to 'test' it yet...

Once you have chosen & set up your security, try the scans from www.grc.com (yeah - it's free - notice a trend here? ;o).

Hope that helps,

Donald

by tjbaden

I am using ZoneAlarm right now. From all of my research, it is the best free firewall, and better than some that are not free. There are several sites that offer free port scanning. grc.com is a very good one that I use to test security for my clients.

Tom

by eagl

I'm a newbie and had quite a hard time finding something to help protect me on the net as well, at least something that I could understand without all the tech lingo and mumbo-jumbo. I've wasted some precious money but more than that wasted precious time and sanity! I went to Staples Depot (here in Canada) and explained my dilemma and they suggested Norton SystemWorks 2001, it's worth every penny! And if I can figure out how to use it, anyone can believe me! They have excellent tech support (although sometimes takes a few days, but answers are clear and concise) Here's the tech-support add; http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/index.html
Hope this helps; eagl.

by al macintyre

icsa.net certifies firewalls & has a free downloadable buyer's guide. I noticed a lot of the familiar names are not certified by icsa.net & also there is an article in last week's e-Week about how hackers get around most of the free firewalls, so Iasked Norton Tech Support how come their product was not on the www.icsa.net certification & their reply was yjsy icsa only certifies network firewalls, while Norton's is for personal protection, so I guess I need to locate, if there is such an animal, a place that certifies personal protection.

Since I may soon be getting high speed internet access I want protection that the security experts says is good, not just something that has won a popularity contest by people who think they are being protected.

I tried to look this up at www.sans.org & www.cert.org but the technical stuff there is a bit higher than I am ready to absorb ... I need an introductory education in learning how to figure out this stuff.

More URLs of relevance inmy post to www.smartcomputing.com Q+A Board thread # 58800

by eagl

Sorry, forgot to mention the price, the price here in Canada is $99.00 plus 15% tax. And there are quite a few programs within this software, I think it's worth checking out. Try it, even if I'm a newbie, I might surprize you. Later; eagl.

by sledjockey

The best book out there for a "quick fix it" for a personal firewall is Firewalls: A Complete Guide. It sells for $55. The other thing to do is hit every one of the "hacker" sites listed at www.hackerwhacker.com and do a site search for firewalls. It will tell everyone of the exploits out there for every personal available. Just a pointer to a good place to start. I hope this helps. One last comment, though. Every bit of literature that I have read says that Zone Alarm (ZA) is based off of the same ideas that Black Ice Defender (BI) was made after. They don't actually block ALL ports. Some more obscure trojans and exploits are wide open for use because of this. Norton Internet Security and McAfee are supposedly the two that actually block all ports. Do some reading and then decide. Just make sure you read what the "hackers" have to say, for they are the ones that try to break it all.... :o)

Peace out.

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