Re: Firewalls

From: Bruce Chambers (bchambers_at_nospamcableone.net)
Date: 07/15/04 

Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2004 21:35:41 -0600

Greetings --

    Like WinXP's built-in firewall, NAT-capable routers and hardware
firewalls do little or nothing to protect the uninformed user from
him/herself. Again -- and I _cannot_ emphasize this enough -- almost
all spyware and many Trojans and worms are downloaded and installed
deliberately (albeit unknowingly) by the user. So a software
firewall, such as Sygate or ZoneAlarm, that can detect and warn the
user of unauthorized out-going traffic is an important element of
protecting one's privacy and security. Most antivirus applications do
not scan for or protect you from adware/spyware, because, after all,
you've installed them yourself, so you must want them there, right?

    It's been several years since I've been tempted to try McAfee
products. Their quality seemed to take a steep nose-dive after they
were acquired by Network Associates.

    The "next generation" Windows Firewall included with SP2, while
vastly superior to the original ICF in terms of visibility, usability
and configurability, is still rather lacking, as a solid security
component. It still can't supplant 3rd-party solutions, nor is it
intended to do so; rather, it's intended to complement them. And, like
the original ICF, it will not monitor out-going traffic.

    It's most important virtues, I think, are it's improved
compatibility with internal LANs and its configurability via group
policies. Now, there's a simple, cheap tool that system admins can
use to protect the LAN workstations from that occasional - but not
rare enough - fool who manages to bypass the perimeter firewall and
manually install some malware that could then spread throughout the
LAN via shared drives.

Bruce Chambers 

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"Eric Fehlhaber" <efehlhaber@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eGYNrShaEHA.4052@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> First of all, thank you for all the input.  I especially appreciate
links to
> online articles that I can read!  Anyway, it seems like the windows
firewall
> is "sufficient" and that buying a third party firewall really
wouldn't be
> worth the money.  Especially for a home user with up-to-date virus
> protection and hardware firewall protection.  Please correct me if I
am
> wrong!
>
> Also, I was specifically interested in some info on McAfee's
firewall for
> the simple fact that I use virus scan 8 already.
>
> Anyway, thanks again!
>

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