Re: How safe Am I? tpf,hardware fw,socks,etc

From: David (davidwnh@adelphia.net)
Date: 11/21/02 

From: "David" <davidwnh@adelphia.net>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:04:31 GMT

The fact is the newer MS products are not safe straight out of the box, but
can be configured to be relatively safe. You just have to know what to
reconfigure and what to disable. Many of the updates take care of this for
you. Some of the newer technologies such as activeX and scripting can be a
big problem but they can be disabled. And you can add 3rd party software
such as web browsers or email clients to make things even safer. You're
usually best to upgrade though only after one or two service packs are
available. Their newer "features" tend to have the most vulnerabilities
waiting to be discovered. This may hopefully change seeing how they finally
realized they have a problem. So it's a balance: features vs. security and
you need to decide which features are safe enough for you.

I use Linux also and would agree it is better choice for many or most when
running servers, however it is not quite ready for primetime as far as your
typical home user goes. It lacks driver support, and the availability of
certain types of applications. You can get an easy to install distribution,
however configuration is not always easy unless you're patient enough to
search for good information. You have to weed through a lot of newsgroups at
times to find the real answers to your problems. There also seems to be a
problem starting to surface where malicious code is being added to some of
the mainstream program distributions. This may or may not be a result of
the "opensource" factor. On the other hand the "opensource" factor may make
it easier to find such problems. Linux can be made extremely safe however it
will only be as safe as you learn to make it. And the virus' etc. will
become more prevalent as time goes on.

If you are setting up a firewall on a first generation pentium you do
realize that this would be a software firewall? As far as not relying on
software firewalls that's total BS. There are pros and cons to both, however
keep in mind that a hardware firewall is controlled by it's
firmware(software)....You are at the mercy of the manufacturer as to
vulnerabilities, etc. once you invest in a hardware firewall. They can be
easier to set up, cheaper than buying a new computer for a dedicated
firewall, and consume less power so the decision is left up to you.

Why would you set up a firewall on a separate Win95 box ? And if it doesn't
work on what you have will you be able to get it to work on another box
using the same OS? Maybe. You might want to try another firewall application
first.

This second box might be a perfect candidate for a Linux firewall
however.......

>From the statements you have made in this post I'm am led to suggest that
you take the easiest route in order to get a properly configured firewall.
Upgrade your OS (which you already stated no), try another personal firewall
and see if you can get it to work, buy an inexpensive hardware firewall(if
you are on broadband).

Food for thought: If a friend has a copy of Win98 or W2K that he/she no
longer uses they can legally transfer that to you.

> Ok, I accept that; thanks for the reply. But I am stuck with win95
> for the time being, at least at certain locations. Can anyone
> answer the other question I had about the easiest way to set up a
> hardware firewall on a second first generation pentium? Or is this
> futile given win95 limitations? I will also want to do this when I
> move to linux. I've pretty much decided that MS products are not
> reliable, nor safe; I don't really care what they come out with
> next, their reputation precedes them. Others have told me not to
> rely on software firewalls, regardless of the OS.
>
>
> > "Duane Arnold" <darnold92@Insightbb.com> wrote:
> >
> > I think the link below points out the Win 9x series security
> > lack there of, including Win ME.
> >
> > http://www.uksecurityonline.com/husdg/windows9598.php
> >
> >> However I still get frequent win crashes, now
> >> with tpf causing invalid page faults. Another user posted about
> >> this under win95 but there were no relevant answers and tiny
> >> home page is no help.
> >
> > There are no answers other then to get off the Win9x series O/S
> > .
> >
> > The Win9x series O/S system is crash prone, because the heart of
> > its O/S is 16 bit and all 16 bit processing share a common
> > memory space and processing threads. So if one 16 bit
> > applications crashes or hangs all 16 bit applications follow.
> > And if you are running a 32 bit application that needs
> > processing in the 16 bit environment (DOS), it too can crash or
> > hang. Since DOS, the heart, is 16 bit, anything bad happening in
> > the 16 bit threads can lead to a system crash.
> >
> > So the bottom line here is to get off of the Win 9x series O/S.
> > That's Win 95 to ME.
> >
> >> eventually get to linux
> >
> > I understand some people's need to gravitate to Linux, because
> > it's damn near free, it's some what good, it's not exploited as
> > much as MS, and they are not after it like MS and its Win 9x
> > series. But Linux is not all that wonderful and attacks on Linux
> > are on the rise as it becomes more popular.
> >
> > MS has been playing hardball with its NT and 2K O/S for a long
> > time and they are very stable and have good security features to
> > protect itself. The XP series has had some issues, but once MS
> > gets things straighten out with the XP Home, Pro, Windows.NET
> > (XP server) and advancements with their consumer and programming
> > software, they will be playing some serious, serious hardball.
> >
> > My advise to you would be to move towards XP. I am hang around
> > on Win 2K until they get XP under control, and when they do, I
> > am on it. I may be moving to XP mid 2003.
> >
> > Duane :)
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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