Spyware Warrior

[Stovnet]

Hi

If I have a hardware firewall (as I use a router with this built in) is it necessary to also use Norton or one of the other recommended brands as a software firewall?

Additionally what does a program like Norton (or the others like Kerio) do that an antispyware program like Giant or Spysweeper not do?

Regards
Stov
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Stov

[suzi]

A hardware firewall is good but you also need a software firewall to stop unwanted outbound connections to the internet. For example, if you unwittingly download some spyware, malware or get hit with a trojan, the router would not prevent them from "phoning home", participating in a DOS attack, etc.

Antispyware progams do not monitor and protect you from unwanted inbound or outbound internet connections. A firewall does that.

Here's a site with detailed info about firewalls and why you need one:

http://www.firewallguide.com/index.html

Other people here will probably add to what I've said too.
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Former Microsoft MVP 2005-2009, Consumer Security
Please do not PM or Email me for personal support. Post in the Forums instead and we will all learn.

[Stovnet]

Thankyou. Answers all my questions very succinctly.

Cheers
Stov
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Stov

[Stovnet]

Hi again

I remembered my other related question. Is Norton Internet Security considered a good, bad or ho-hum product in the scheme of things?

I had a look at the link you suggested, but it seemed to depend which review I read. One said Trend Micro was the best, but also seemed to infer that Zonealarm Pro was a great product, but another said Norton was the go.

I guess this has been discussed ad nauseam, so forgive me if this is the case.

Cheers
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Stov

[wawadave]

i use zap but nortons fire wall will work just fine.
did not know microtrend made firewalls?
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[herbalist]

Stovnet,
What's best actually depends on several things.
Your operating system.
Your level of understanding of how/why a firewall works.
To a degree, what else is installed on your system.
The only Norton I've used was their Internet Security 2002. On an older OS like 98, it's way too hard on resources. On XP, this will be much less an issue.
Other operating systems like winME, can get very tempramental about what you use, for no obvious reason.
If you're comfortable with writing and editing firewall rules, then a rule based one is hard to beat. If you're not, one with automatic rule creation will generally suffice. Then as you learn how to write rules, you can edit them to tighten them up more and shut the automatic rule creation off.
As long as you stay with a good brand to start with, it's as much a matter of preferenceas anything else. There is a lot of over-hyped junk out there too, just like you find with anti-spyware programs.
Regarding ZA, it's going to depend on who you ask. Some swear by it, some swear at it. Last time I tried it, it kept losing the entire ruleset. Never figured out why. If I remember right, a lot of people had trouble with version 5 when it came out.
Rick

[Stovnet]

Thanks guys and gals

Appreciate your help. I think I'll stick with dear 'ole Norton. Been using it for awhile now and generally seems not to give me too much grief.

I don't htink I'm ready for developing rule-sets just yet. Maybe when my next renewal runs out.

By the way, has anyone had trouble with Spysweepeer changing its subscription expiry date to some other date for no apparent reason? It has done it to me three times now - each one to a date before the correct expiry date - some well before - like 10 months. They were eventually corrected through Spysweeper's support - that was, until the next time it happened.

Never had this trouble before with any other subscription service.

Cheers again
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Stov