Thanks for the software suggestions.

Do I really need a firewall? I know the companies say I do but.. I use Norton AntiVirus 2003 with automatic update and keep Auto-Protect running all the time - except when I install a new program - learned about that the hard way - and it looks as though you check mail for viruses before sending.

If I install a firewall, will it affect anything else, for instance my dial-up or ftp connections? (Your link to ZoneAlarm went straight to the download page but I couldn't fond much on their site by way of FAQs)

It very much depends on which kind of connection you have to the Internet. If you are on dialup it probably does not make too much sense to have a firewall. If you are on always on (ADSL, cable, ...) then you really should have a firewall.
I know that some members had problems using ZoneAlarm and they had to uninstall it again in order to get their connection working.
I also agree that a good virus protection helps alot.

Zone Alarm free edition works just fine with almost any setup, as long as you go into the "Zones" section of "FIrewall" and put in the IP address of your router/modem. At worst, if everything on your system is dynamic, you will have to okay one or two items each time that you come up.

As for needing a firewall, everybody needs one that stays online for any period of time. In fact, a firewall is more important than an AV program for those smart enough to not click on attachments in their email. For years, I ran with no active AV, but with ZoneAlarm turned on and scanning email for active extensions on attachments. ZoneAlarm renames such things so that merely clicking on them will not cause them to execute. The professional version of ZA has an AV built into it.

Here's where a firewall like ZA is better than an AV program of any type. A firewall only needs to be updated when some exploit can get by that particular firewall, and the vendor will notify you if you register(also free) so that you can update. An AV has to be updated for every new virus that appears. I have gone months without updating ZA, with no ill effect, but if I have a site that depends on it's AV, it must be updated at least weekly. ]

Now, if you use Netscape Mail or Mozilla Mail or Eudora or one of a half-dozen free or adware email programs, it is extremely unlikely that you will be hit by a direct vulnerability in your email program. Any version of Outlook or Outlook Express is a bullseye painted on your backside.

What I normally do is scan any attachments that I wish to open with a free AV like AVG(www.grisoft.com) or Avast!(www.avast.com), without running them in active mode. There are commercial versions of ZA, AVG, and Avast! that will get you help and more current virus keys. The best free combination that I know of is ZA with AVG running and automatically updating itself, at least on DSL systems.

Even with dial-up via a modem I think a firewall is a must. Mine's stopped a heap of port attacks, adware attempts and other stuff while I've been online. It's maybe a mistake to think people with modems only go online fleetingly, I'm often on for several hours researching, and in that time a lot of people can gain access to your computer. If in doubt whether you need a firewall or not, install one and run it for a while, then look at the log.

Once you've got your firewall installed don't forget to get it checked out! Its not a lot of good if its leaving a few doors open....

Go to [www.grc.com] (Gibson Research Corporation) and run the Shields Up! test. You might find it a bit techy in places but do read it all.

For those of you who are interested in knowing why Zone Alarm kicks ass (not just because the standard version is free) run the All Service Ports scan and read the blurb on port 113.

AVG Windows a good and free (for home use) AntiVirus program

F-Prot is also a good shareware antivirus - the Windows scanner is time-limited, but the 'real-time protector' and DOS scanner is free.

ZoneAlarm Windows is an easy to use and free personal firewall

Tiny Personal Firewall Windows

Sygate Personal Firewall Windows

If a firewall malfunctions it can cause partial or total loss of network facilities. For example, a corrupted ZoneAlarm can allow a few minutes web browsing, and then cut off all http connections: obviously this isn't the simple case of someone accidentally adding the browser to the blocked programs list. If uninstalling ZoneAlarm, first make sure neither it nor any part of TrueVector are in memory: to do this use the ZA preferences to turn off 'load at startup', reboot, then uninstall and reboot again.

[nh2.nohold.net]

If you get to the point where you can't run ZoneAlarm, uninstall or reinstall and the instructions above don't work, here's a solution for the experts. Restart in MSDOS mode (for 98) or restart with a boot disk, and delete \windows\system\vsdata95.vxd, vsinit.dll and other zonealarm files as above. You then stop the warning about the missing VXD by removing the registry key from HKLM\System\CurrentControlServices\VxD\vsdata.

Norton Internet Security includes a firewall and anti-virus. As with other firewalls Norton's can sometimes become very unhelpful at inconvenient times, e.g. downloading updates to AVG or anti-spyware programs in exactly the situation when you wouldn't subscribe to an update by entering credit card details.

Effectively what has happened is that the system hooks are still in place, but the user interface is no longer asking for permission to allow a new program to open a connection. Attempting to uninstall via Add/Remove Programs gives a misleading message about needing a Norton administrator password; it also refuses point blank to uninstall in safe mode.

The trick is simply to go to Control Panel > Services and stop all Symantec or Norton services and then uninstall.

As to whether a firewall is wise for a home computer - yes, if you are using a USB ADSL modem and connected for long stretches of time; if you are connecting through a router, the hardware firewall may be all you need. Windows XP firewall is probably sufficient and adapted to home networking, unless you want greater control over which programs have access.

ZoneAlarm has stopped supporting Windows 98. I have been running it alongside avast! and have kept both up-to-date as notified of updates.

Apart from ditching Windows Me, I now have the options of keeping my fingers crossed or replacing ZA with something that works with Windows Me. The only stand-alone firewall I have found that does this is Agnitum Outpost. The professional version sems to do a lot that duplicates the work of the AV, eg, the on-access scanning of files and email, that could lead to conflict. The free version looks as though it hasn.t been updated since 2002 or am I misinterpreting something on their web site?

Anyone have any thoughts? [I shall replace Me when I *have* to get a new PC (when I *might* be brave enough to try Linux!)]

Phil

EDIT: I checked out the user comments on Agnitum Outpost onthe NT Kernell C|net and found a number of prople had fouund problems with this firewall's interaction with almost every antivirus program and had then found great difficulty in uninstalling it. So, no to that one.

Comments for the NT Kernel product were positive, enthusiastc even, so I installed it. Not too sure about the way it seemed to be working, I ran Sheids Up! I have now uninstalled it and reinstalled the 6.1 version of Zone Alarm. Ut is still 100% invisible to Sheilds Up!, so I'll stick with it for now.

My next question will be to decide whether WindowsXP will run with my 1.4GB processor and 512MB RAM



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 10/22/06 07:40PM by Phil.

You can keep running your existing version of ZoneAlarm for Windows 98, and you can get previous versions at [www.oldversion.com] The threats stopped by firewalls don't generally change over time, unlike antivirus programs. As you say, Agnitum still provides a free personal firewall for Windows 98:
[www.agnitum.com]

For Windows 2000 and XP, perhaps the best free firewall is now Comodo
[www.personalfirewall.comodo.com]

In fact, Comodo looks more sophisticated than most paid-for firewalls. The purpose of such programs, is beyond that of the Windows XP firewall or a router firewall: it's to give you control over which programs can access the internet. However, some firewalls will just regard svchost.exe (the Generic Windows services host) as one program, wherease Comodo gives more information about what service is actually involved, and what parent process causes, say a browser pop-up window. In theory, it could therefore give finer control at the expense of being somewhat less user-friendly.