Computer security

[contactor]

Do many of you use a service such as McAfee for firewalls, spam and hack protection,etc.? Is it money worth spending?Is there another way? I am an apprentice in this field,still.
Advice on photo software appreciated too.

[mattm]

I never bothered when I was on dial up but on high speed I would highly reccomend it. I use Norton along with Adaware and Spybot. The last 2 are freeware and Norton is like $75 bucks a year.

Picassa has a pretty nice photo software that is also free.

[retired btc]

I use McAfee for all three computors and have not had any problems with it, I had Nortons for a while but ran into problems with it and the high speed connection.

You can also go to http://www.pcworld.com/ to check for reviews on most software as well as download free programs for protection.

[mattm]

Funny you say that about Norton btc. When I 1st started using it pictures sometimes wouldn't show up. But after a while it was just fine.

I tried that Firefox for a while and had nothing but problems.

[jay302]

Hmmm.. Iv'e had very few problems with FireFox, but then again, I come from a computer background. (This HVAC/R stuff is a whole new experience for me.)

I'm using Norton Antivirus, AdAware, SpyBot Dearch & Destroy and the new MS AntiSpyware. Seems to do the trick.

[bb]

A very good hardware firewall can be built for cheap. If you have an old 486 or above laying around, download and install Smoothwall firewall. It will make a dedicated firewall for your network.

Other features it has: web proxy, dhcp server, dynamic dns updater,snort intrusion detection, guardian active response, vpn capability, ability to run a dmz (de-militarized zone)for webservers, wireless or regular ethernet connections.

There are a number of other modifications that can be made to it such as automatic updaters, child protection software, antivirus software and others.

It is linux based but don't let that frighten you. The SW forum is very helpful. It's challenging learning the stuff anyway.

Once everything is set up you can for the most part leave it alone. It runs headless meaning that once set up you can stick it in a closet or somewhere out of the way and administer it through the network. Simple.

There are other resemblances out there such as IPCop and I'm sure others.

Good luck Jim

[Swampfox]

These days you have to fight to keep your computer clean, everything you need is available for free though

AVG Anti-virus
Zone Alarm Firewall
Microsoft antispyware beta
Ad Aware
Spybot search and destroy
SpywareBlaster

You can get most of these at http://www.download.com

No need to buy anything all of these work very well, I recommend using a router also as it acts as a hardware firewall, and definately drop IE and use Firefox, you wont look back

[l•k]

update issued

18 July 2006

[cold in alberta]

panda titanium

[The Penguin]

What swamp fox said . I use the same setup

[l•k]

update issued

definitions file

18 July 2006

[l•k]

latest update is

24 July

[tonys]

all necessary tools when you surf through certain 'sites'.