[EtherShock]

I just realized this. Other than the one built into my router, I don't have a firewall on this computer. Does anyone know of a good, free firewall out there? Also, while I'm at it since school is soon, what's the best way to protect my computer at school from viruses? Nothing gets to me here, because of the router, but at school, can get hit with a brutal force attack. Should I just take the router with me?

Edit: "by best way" I mean other than an AV program, which I already have, if there is another way.

[ChronoReverse]

If you have Windows XP SP2, the built-in firewall is actually good enough for general usage.

If you need an occasional scan.  Trend Housecall is a free and decent online scanner.

If you really want a free AV program that'll lay resident in memory, then AVG has a pretty good one and it's free for personal use.


Finally, eTrust has a 1 year trial for their AV program.  That's long enough to be recommended as a "free" AV program

[Fractux]

ZoneAlarm for a personal firewall if your computer can handle the resources it hogs. XP's firewall should be good enough for most needs.

The best free antivirus program I've found (as far as detecting and removing all known goes), and that hardly uses any resources is AntiVir Personal Edition. I've found that AVG doesn't detect or clean many viruses that are detected with other suites.

[EtherShock]

I've had ZoneAlarm before, it stinks. What I meant to ask was is there a better way than an AV program and firewall to protect me at school from a brute force, machinegun-like attack, because those are the kind that usually get through, or is this futile as long as I'm directly plugged into the wall? I've had McAfee and Norton, and was going to try something else this semester like AVG or AVAST. Screw whatever the school gives.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by EtherShock
I've had ZoneAlarm before, it stinks. What I meant to ask was is there a better way than an AV program and firewall to protect me at school from a brute force, machinegun-like attack, because those are the kind that usually get through, or is this futile as long as I'm directly plugged into the wall? I've had McAfee and Norton, and was going to try something else this semester like AVG or AVAST. Screw whatever the school gives.

[color=66ff00]I don't understand why you would be the recipient of a brute force attack. Has someone threatened you with this?

Are you on the uni network or a stand alone connection?

I have been using Zone Alarm and AVG for quite a while now and they've been doing a decent job.
[/color]

[EtherShock]

No one has threatened me. That'd be pretty stupid to threaten with a virus. I'd be on the school network, and sometimes while surfing the web, I get repeatedly hit by viruses within a few minutes. One or two get in after enough hammering. I then have to spend time removing them. I won't do anything else until my system is clean.

[WMCoolmon]

Bookmarking this thread...

[ChronoReverse]

Makes me wonder if you've updated your Windows (if you're on XP).

Unless you have funky hardware and some really old programs, there's no reason not to go to SP2 and to use the latest updates.

Coupled with any firewall (including the internal SP2 firewall) it's fairly difficult to get trojans.


Add an alternative browser instead of IE (both Opera and FF are good choices) and Spyware isn't nearly as much of an issue.


Finally if you're really worried, you can also install Spybot, Ad-aware and Microsoft Malicious Software Remover.

[phreak]

just get a $20 hardware hub/router/firewall from office max or something.  smc or linksys should do just fine.  Besides you can setup a lan party with it too

[Fury]

My router's NAT and XP SP2's firewall is enough for me. Besides, there is no software firewall available for XP x64. Except for Tiny Firewall which is still in public beta.

As for anti-virus, I have always preferred avast! Anti-Virus 4 over any other. Home version is free too.

[aldo_14]

avast!

Never heard of it.  ****ing brilliant name, though.

[EtherShock]

Originally posted by ChronoReverse
Makes me wonder if you've updated your Windows (if you're on XP).

Unless you have funky hardware and some really old programs, there's no reason not to go to SP2 and to use the latest updates.

Coupled with any firewall (including the internal SP2 firewall) it's fairly difficult to get trojans.


Add an alternative browser instead of IE (both Opera and FF are good choices) and Spyware isn't nearly as much of an issue.


Finally if you're really worried, you can also install Spybot, Ad-aware and Microsoft Malicious Software Remover.

Windows is up-to-date, I have the XP firewall and a router here (no router at school) I use Firefox and I have Ad-aware and Spybot, but that doesn't matter at school. Something will get through if I'm hit hard enough. I haven't used Firefox while not behind a firewall yet however. I have no reason to test its resilience to viruses though. The bottom line is, I'm just a paranoid ****.

I should make clear the reason I don't use ZoneAlarm is cause it's a resource hog.

Originally posted by PhReAk
just get a $20 hardware hub/router/firewall from office max or something.  smc or linksys should do just fine.  Besides you can setup a lan party with it too

A router for $20? I never heard of them that cheap. If it was that easy, I would've done just that. I would bring the one I have here, but it's the family's, so I can't do that. Then they'd be open to attack if they go online.

[Fury]

Originally posted by aldo_14
avast!

Never heard of it.  ****ing brilliant name, though.

http://www.avast.com/

Of the many anti virus proggies I've tried during the long years, I've found this to be the best of the bunch at the moment. Your mileage may vary.

[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]You'd need to check your terms then:

Brute forcing is a repeated attack using a dictionary or an incrementing series of numbers in an attempt to guess an unknown or partially known password. It has very little to do with viruses.

Secondly if you're on the school network and the admin is in any way competent he'll have set up safeguards like mail scanners, protection against DDoS and network traffic detailing. You could still get a virus via your own email service (hotmail or yahoo etc.) but even they are quite good at removal and detection of viruses and malware these days. The things you have to look out for are sites that attempt to run activex in IE and sites that promise warez and games for free.
[/color]

[aldo_14]

Maybe he means a DOS/DDOS attack upon the network as a whole?

[Admiral LSD]

My toolkit for this stuff is the XP SP2 firewall, AVG free anti-virus, spybot, ad-aware and the MS Antispyware tool. Does the job well enough for me.

[EtherShock]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]You'd need to check your terms then:

Brute forcing is a repeated attack using a dictionary or an incrementing series of numbers in an attempt to guess an unknown or partially known password. It has very little to do with viruses.

Secondly if you're on the school network and the admin is in any way competent he'll have set up safeguards like mail scanners, protection against DDoS and network traffic detailing. You could still get a virus via your own email service (hotmail or yahoo etc.) but even they are quite good at removal and detection of viruses and malware these days. The things you have to look out for are sites that attempt to run activex in IE and sites that promise warez and games for free.
[/color]

Well, it's like a brute force attack in a way. My school is incompetent when it comes to network security. If someone gets a virus, their port is shut down until Resnet can confirm their system is clean, and I learned about the danger of warez sites a long time ago. I should be much safer with Firefox, concerning ActiveX, but I'm still wary of the campus network.

OK, can someone recommend a firewall other than ZA? I see Avast comes with one. How is theirs?

[Cobra]

i recommend McAfee Firewall and McAfee Antivirus. Haven't gotten a single virus since i got 'em.

[IceFire]

Originally posted by EtherShock

Well, it's like a brute force attack in a way. My school is incompetent when it comes to network security. If someone gets a virus, their port is shut down until Resnet can confirm their system is clean, and I learned about the danger of warez sites a long time ago. I should be much safer with Firefox, concerning ActiveX, but I'm still wary of the campus network.

OK, can someone recommend a firewall other than ZA? I see Avast comes with one. How is theirs?

Either you go to the same university or thats a widespread practice.

[EtherShock]

Oh jeez, you mean mine's not the only school that works this way? Maybe they do it this way cause they know stupid students will pay resnet to fix their system. I think they just simply let everything through the lines, which is a huge liability.