Re: McAfee firewall 7.x ; trash or redeemable ?

"unstablemicrosoft" <unstablemicrosoft@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:E6492023-C71E-4A8E-8422-D65F58A7BCE8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi. I've come to the conclusion that the purchase of my McAfee firewall has
been a mistake. I'll add to that that this product is much more expensive in
my country than in the USA. That tends to be typical for many vendors.

As I said: trash or redeemable ?

Why would someone need/want a firewall ?

If you have Windows XP with service pack 2 then the windows firewall is just
fine, it blocks incoming traffic well.

The real value of a different firewall is that you can control outbound
access; that is, you want to control the stream of data from your computer to
the outside world.
Sure, McAfee seems to do that just fine. SEEMS.

It can stop unwanted outbound traffic, and it even gives you a significant
degree of control over outbound traffic. You can configure it nicely.

But as is obvious, a chain is as strong as it's weakest link.

There are MANY ways to bypass the McAfee's outbound control. For more
information about that, see www.firewallleaktester.com

I'm not very likely to just download a program from the web.

So what's the issue ? Spyware programs can come in, some cannot be detected
by any other means than an active scan by an anti spyware program. A spyware
program on your computer that would plainly try to send a stream of data to
the outside would not succeed.

But it would succeed (for example, trojans) if it used one of the means that
are available, many in the public domain, to bypass the firewall's
protections. "leaks" (www.firewallleaktester.com) as they often are called.
McAfee's firewall is extremely weak with regard to this. I know of at least
11 ways to bypass the McAfee firewall's outbound control.

So what's to stop a spyware writer from writing a spyware program that will
bypass the firewall's (McAfee's for example) outbound protection ?

Incompetency ! Or maybe they have some catching up to do ! It is logical to
assume it's only a matter of time before such programs will be "out there".

There are a few firewalls that seem to protect against alll or nearly all
published leaks. But ... I've just spent some money, and it seems that all
the good stuff, firewalls or security suites, are expensive. I've paid for a
firewall, an antivirus, a registry mechanic, two good anti spyware programs,
and I'm not about to fork over 60 or 80 USD or something like that for more
security software any time soon. Money IS a factor. For me, and for other
owners of McAfee's firewall.

A GOOD, CHEAP firewall ? Look for Kerio's personal firewall, at Kerio.com,
now owned by Sunbelt. Disadvantage: it does slow surfing the web somewhat,
and it is completely incompatible with my primary anti spyware software. I've
contacted both companies for support, but I think it's very unlikely that
that will result to a solution. I have also contacted McAfee more than a week
ago, and the silence is deafening.

I've tried the comodo firewall, and it's said to be free, but I didn't like
it for several reasons.

So, advice to anyone: if you buy a firewall, make sure it protects you well.
Do some research.

Back to the McAfee firewall: it's basically trash. Does anyone have a good
idea about how you can compensate for it's weaknesses ?

IMHO anything from McAfee or Norton is trash. Not allowed in the building.
Of course, a lot of people (even some MVPs disagree).

I think the Windows firewall is good enough if you aren't in the habit of getting infected.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Please reply in newsgroup. Do NOT send email.


.

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