RE: Re: Subject: Virus Attemps

[Guest guest]

Greetings Sally!

Just a comment about firewalls. Your best bet is to get a hardware based

firewall. LinkSys, D-Link, and others provide good approaches.

If you must use a software based product, I do NOT recommend the Norton

software based firewall. Out of the box, it does not seem to do a good job

of protecting a site. We recently ran some internal tests on this ... and

forced our IS department, who wants the product, to set better controls.

Instead, I would recommend BlackIce Defender (black ice can't be seen, but

you slip right off of the roadway on it ... so, attackers do the same when

they hit the BlackIce Defender product). A couple of URLs are:

http://www.zdnet.com/products/stories/reviews/0,4161,2717528,00.html

http://www.cnet.com/software/0-806183-7-2342112.html

Zone Alarm is another product, which I don't recommend for a computer novice

(or even intermediate user). It is just too complicated (non-intuitive).

It's advantage is they offer free software for individuals. Businesses must

buy a license.

But a hardware (NAT based) firewall is much better. Set and forget. Works

well.

Just a couple of thoughts.

Regards,

=jbf=

B. Fisher