well, i work in a shop where we deal with this stuff, install it almost
every day...
i've tried several firewalls, blackice, norton internet security, etc. NONE
are completely safe. Norton and blackice in particular, running on the same
machine, will find and block quite a few different things.
if you want to be really safe, try a multi-prong attack, using a hardware
router (we sell several, most popular seems to be the netgear line, RT311,
RT314, etc.) These provide NAT (network address translation) to hook
multiple machines to the net. The upside here is that your actual IP
address is assigned to the hardware router, and you use internal
non-routable (i.e. non-traceable) addresses internally. (usually the
192.168.0.x range). on each machine hooked through that router, run a
software firewall of some sort, black ice, norton, several others. even
though the NAT blocks 99% of attacks, if you are still carrying a trojan or
a few other possibilities, it won't provide the protection you want. the
software firewalls usally block 99% of the remaining 1%. Use Norton
Antivirus, MacAffee's, or something and keep your machine scanned regularly.
most of all, NEVER open or run a program that comes from someone or
somewhere you don't trust, you'll be happier in the end if you never ran
that 'great swimsuit screensaver' or whatever...
incidentally, a combination of a hardware router and norton internet
security will run you about $250, depending on where/when you get it. you
might get away with as little as $125 or so, or pay up to bill gates salary
for a really secure setup.
MacGrough Mich'Rathe
Bard of 26 Songs
Solusek Ro Wanderers
p.s. if you need any specifics, shoot me an email.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mott, Mike J." <mike.j.mott@...>
To: <eqbards@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2000 10:08 AM
Subject: [eqbards] OT: Recommendation for a home firewall
> I was wondering if any of you out there are using firewall software in
> conjunction with EQ. I currently use Microsoft Internet Connection
sharing
> on my home network, but havent installed any firewall software at all, and
I
> am a bit nervous about that.
>
> Any recommendations? I am currently looking at WinRoute Pro as a
solution.
>
> Lago Bardoon
>
>
> Please send submissions for the eqbards newsletter to lol@...
with the subject submissions.
>