Re: xp firewall how good is it?

From: Mark Strelecki, ACP (be6-507@nospam.strelecki.com)
Date: 12/16/02 

From: " Mark Strelecki, ACP" <be6-507@nospam.strelecki.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 09:21:50 -0500

Hi, Timbo -

While some with MS "certifications" would choose to diminish the fine work
done by folks like Steve Gibson (for perhaps obvious reasons?), the fact is
that the included "firewall" in XP is a bare bones design that offers
incomplete protection.

Computer security is a two way street - you gotta watch bits as they come IN
to the system, as well as those that go OUT. XP's firewall watches SOME of
those incoming, and NONE of the outgoing communications. Third party apps
like Norton Firewall, ZoneAlarm, Sygate, Tiny Personal Firewall, and others
are required for more complete protection from unauthorized and hidden
communications every Windows system makes during every hour they're
connected to the Internet.

MS has a long history of weak software design, oriented to user convenience
at the expense of any kind of security. Folks who doubt the education and
insight offered FOR FREE by Steve Gibson and others are only making things
worse by trying to obfuscate the fact that PCs are wide open and vulnerable
by default, and require no small amount of configuration tuning and tweaking
to seal up all the cracks.

MS has issued over seventy security warnings already this year alone, and
that suggests there remains a LOT of work yet to be done when it comes to
user security on the Internet.

Talk is cheap. Don't trust those who discredit open technical examinations
and explanations, as understanding is the first step in remediation.

Best wishes from sunny Atlanta, GA. 

--
Mark Strelecki,  ACP          BE6.XP1097.020817
Atlanta, GA. - Computing and Programming Since 1975
I MAKE IT GO!  ©
http://www.strelecki.com/links.html
--------------------------------------
"I think the sole purpose of our inventions
is to fill our needs to be mad at something."
Paul Roussin, August, 2002
"Timbo" <numisman@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:O2SFPzNpCHA.1644@TK2MSFTNGP10...
> I am running xp firewall but after running Shields up from Gibson research
> it tells me that I am running in stealth mode on most ports but am wide
open
> on another one. The fix it says is to be behind a firewall which I am, so
> how do I close it? I also have zone alarm pro but am not using it at this
> moment, I have used it in the past but have had similar reports when using
> Shields up. Is there a surefire way of configuring the firewall to block
> unwanted intrusions? I also use Adaware and am amazed to find that I have
a
> whole host of spyware on my system even though I have two supposedly first
> class firewalls running.
>
> TIA
>
>

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