Re: Broadband and security question
- From: Dan <spamyou@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 06:06:05 -0600
Dudley Henriques wrote:
Thank you for taking the time to answer my post. Please bear with my long version as its important to me that whoever answers this understand a unique situation I have with the way I use my computer.
I've always used a simple dialup for my on line work and have not had any virus issues at all using the EZAntiVirus from CA that I have installed. Along with this, I use the XP in-house firewall. This combo has worked for several years.
My situation is unique as I need my system as free of 3rd party software as possible for the testing I do for developers producing add on software for the Microsoft Flight Simulator program.
This being said, I have just signed up with RCN for their broadband cable. This of course will change my on line scenario, as the port will now be open all the time the system is on.
What I need to know is this;
RCN offers free Mcafee software and my experience with Mcafee is that it is invasive to the registry and slows my system, which is not the best thing when you need every once of performance for testing.
Will my present combination of AV and using the XP firewall be sufficient to protect the system with the new broadband in operation or will I need to make changes in the way I protect the computer?
Many thanks for any and all information.
Dudley
You need a multi-layered approach to security on your PC(s). The router suggestion is a good start. I would also add Zone Alarm Professional to have protection at both the hardware level and secondarily at the software level. Certain tools such as an anti-virus program are also useful. I would suggest using a few anti-spyware utilities and an alternative browser such as Mozilla Firefox which will give you 256 bit encryption+ compared to the ever lessening and weaker 128 bit maximum encryption that is available in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, 128 bit encryption does not really cut it any more and certain companies are just asking for trouble unless they increase their encryption standard. For example, Bank of America site states that they use the highest encryption method of 128 bit encryption when in reality many sites offer their users 256+ bit encryption through the open source Mozilla Firefox browser. Charles Schwab, Gmail and Yahoo Mail all have 256 bit encryption when using Mozilla Firefox. Hotmail of course only has 128 bit encryption since Microsoft has not updated their encryption standard in Internet Explorer and this is a great reason why Mozilla Firefox is growing so much. Mozilla Firefox also allows you to download an extension such as GeoTrust that can show you which sites are safe when using a search engine such as Google. Well enough for now and you get the idea.
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