Re: I am sick of windows firewall

louise wrote on Tue, 21 Mar 2006 07:00:09 GMT:

I've been using Sygate for several years (don't know what to use instead,
even now), and it definitely asks before it connects for an update. For
example, Adobe Reader always wants to update - I set Sygate to stop it.
Several other programs I run want to go check for updates all the time and
I don't want them to use resources and keep my waiting.

Why don't you just turn off the option to install updates? In Acrobat Reader
7, go to Edit > Preferences, choose the Updates option at the left, set it
do not automatically update at the top. Don't rely on a personal "firewall"
to block things for you - what happens on the day your PFW isn't running?
Killing a running process is a simple thing to do.

And - perhaps more importantly, I certainly don't want them to download
and install their updates unless I decide I need that update. And then, I
want to install one update and make sure it hasn't affected machine
performance, before I download another. Essentially, I want to know
what's going on. Even if the intentions are good, if there is a negative
result, a bug, a conflict between programs, I want to know what was just
changed/installed/updated.

So go through each program and turn off automatic updates. If you've got a
program that doesn't allow you to do so, be wary of that program.

If Windows FW doesn't do that - then what would I need it for? I have a
Linksys NAT, SP1 router - doesn't that perform the same function better?

Windows FW can be used to supplement your router. What happens if you
misconfigure your router and allow all ports incoming, or ports on which you
have running services on your desktop PC? What happens if your friend brings
their laptop around and plugs it into your router, and it's infected with a
worm that then spreads to your desktop PC? Never make assumptions, never
rely on one thing that could easily be bypassed.

Dan


.

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