Pings and firewalls

From: Sherry (sherdh_at_excite.com)
Date: 09/03/03 

Date: 2 Sep 2003 23:59:58 GMT

I have a Westel DSL Router and three different web based security
checks show I'm "stealth". One of the checks pinged several hundred
ports.

I've seen mention that the software firewall notifies the user of the
pings - my router software is pretty basic and doesn't tell me
anything. I can set the level of security and have it set at medium
(default) settings.

Do I still need a software firewall like ZA or Kerio? Which one is
better for someone who doesn't want to muck about with setting a lot of
configuration? I have WinXP Pro, hubby's computer is Win98. I tried
setting the WinXP ICF, but couldn't figure out how to get our home
network to work - we share files. Instructions with Windows are pretty
poor! I have the ICF to work on the laptop when I'm on a wi-fi
connection but not for the home network. Suggestions for a good place
to get instructions on setting up the ICF? Or is it better to use a
3rd party firewall?

Sherry

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Concerned about security changes in XP SP2 (Particularly enabling ICF)
    ... > The article states that ICF will be enabled by default in WinXP SP2. ... > would be disasterous to our customers. ... which relies on DCOM & IP to communicate between the client ... > I'm not a security expert. ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Re: Concerned about security changes in XP SP2 (Particularly enabling ICF)
    ... > Where can I get official information from Microsoft regarding security ... > The article states that ICF will be enabled by default in WinXP SP2. ... which relies on DCOM & IP to communicate between the client ... > I'm not a security expert. ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Concerned about security changes in XP SP2 (Particularly enabling ICF)
    ... Where can I get official information from Microsoft regarding security ... The article states that ICF will be enabled by default in WinXP SP2. ... The article did not mention if DCOM was being modified to be ... I'm not a security expert. ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Re: Pop-up windows
    ... if someone's getting lots of Messenger Service ... You speak as if we live in a world where ICF is ... >computer security solution. ... Nope, so if you were looking to minimise the length of your response, it ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)
  • Re: SP2 and hardware firewalls
    ... > report no security holes. ... 3rd party software firewall. ... NAT-capable routers do nothing to protect the user from him/herself ... though I generally know better than to install scumware. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)