SimonT

Was round my mates last night and we got onto the subject of computers.

I told him I dont run a firewall at home (which I dont).

My theory is you just need a good antivirus program and a few bits of spywear detection and removal programs.

His PC is fully loaded with firewalls and good knows what else - but I can still take over control of his pc with VNC so there not that good!

Does anyone else use a firewall?

ta

ST

L33 BYT

Never have. Never will.
Use antivirus and block a few ports on my router.

Graceland

not got a firewall on the machine nope, got a good virus scanner and the router blocks any alien access on its own anyway

Turbo lag

I run two hardware and software, never got a virus yet

saff_cossie

I run a firewall. How do you take control of his home PC as most have roaming IP's. I use VNC all day at work each day due to the location of our depots but as far as I have seen, home computers seem to have a roaming IP prodominantly.

Genuinely interested in this mate. Or is he setting a permanent IP through his ISP?

Snowy_Astra

I don't use a firewall either. People can scan your ports, but unless your infected with a trojan, they can't remotely control or steal files.

Well, so i heard.

SimonT

He has a random IP address but uses dynip - I installed winvnc on his pc and take control of it once in a while just to freak him out!

JayKay

Don't use a firewall either. All the ones i've tried have been a complete pain in the arse and just cause the computer to lockup and loose internet connectivity every 5 mins, meaning constantly rebooting

adamS2RST

Firewall, Mcafee, MS Anti spyware, spybot, ad aware, hijack this....only as its what we use at work

I work in I.T so know what i'm doing, and as said, not had a virus or problem yet

Jonzy

I work in IT and use nothing. I dont see that my home pc has anything to protect so dont really care, only use it for porn.

wes

A firewall is only as good as it's settings, if all ports are open then there's no point in it being there. If your mate blocked ports 5800 and / or 5900 then std VNC access would be blocked

I find them quite useful, as you get to see what programs on YOUR pc are trying to access the internet without you knowing, i mean why on earth does windows media player / realplayer have to access the internet if i'm trying to listen to a sound file located on my pc which i created?

DanRSturbo

Windows Media Player saves what files and url's you open in it and send's it to microsoft I assume realplayer does the same.

I run several firewall's and anti virus applications, along with several spyware apps. I got a lot of stuff to protect

ECU Monitor Enthusiast

iTrader: (1)

For all those who dont use a firewall BEWARE.

When you send an email or visit a website, your IP address is transffered.
Should someone wish to abuse your PC then if the "front door is open" then they WILL get in.

If you that confident that you dont need it, I dare you to publish your IP addresses on here now !!!

If you dont know it then use www.whatismyip.com to find it

Firewalls were invented for a reason. I suppose in the end its a bit like the dump valve debate

adamS2RST

I dont have "much" to protect but that surely is not the point no matter where you go on the internet your pc gets bombarded with spam, popups, adaware and general junk that slows ur pc down, its not just about the hackers and viruses.....so imo keepin ur pc clean from crap is good to keep the system healthy and running properly

wes

It can also protect your machine from being used without your knowledge, what if some hacker gets into your machine, sets it up as an ftp server and starts sharing some illegal form of material from it? You may have nothing to protect, but the authorities won't see it like that when they knock at YOUR door because of what someone else has put on your machine.

Ish

i use a combo of sygate firewall & mcafee virusscan pro 9 and have never had a virus or successful hack on my pc.

i also use spybot search & destroy to clean any spyware off my pc!

SPo0n

my router has a hardware firewall which does the job just fine.

Guinnless

I use Smoothwall as the main router/firewall. Windows 2003 webserver off the DMZ connection. Sonicwall SOHO 3 secures the LAN.
Zone Alarm provides software firewall. Kaspersky provides the antivirus. AdAware provides the spyware remover.

Logons authenticated by a Windows 2003 server Domain Controller.

Dan B

127.0.0.1

ECU Monitor Enthusiast

iTrader: (1)

Dan B, Nice try

Dan B

Heheh, someone will fall for it one day!

SimonT

Mate a firewall doesnt stop your IP being sent.

A website will log the IP address of every user hitting a website. How do you think people are spotted signing up under more than one user name? IP loggin mate

There is no real way to hide your IP although you can spoof one.

SimonT

sorry i didnt read that post properly!

ECU Monitor Enthusiast

iTrader: (1)

TrevCannon

Firewalls are shite they dont do nothing apart from slow you down

ECU Monitor Enthusiast

iTrader: (1)

Hardware firewalls such as those found in routers are QUICKER than the data throughput.

TrevCannon

LOL i dont know anythink about firewalls because i dont use no protection at all im not interested in that stuff, All i know im running a Belkin router 2.4GHz-802.11g Wireless one

SimonT

wireless is the most unsecure thing ever! ok the encryption is good but not foolproof!

nerdy i know but i know "someone" who regularly goes out in there car with the laptop looking for other peeps wireless connections and then connecting to them parked up outside!

TrevCannon

Thats what my mate does with his lappy comes outside of my house & uses my internet cheeky bastard!

Anonymous

Smoothwall here too
Software firewalls are OK-ish for personal use but I wouldn't use one in a company setup
Constantly amazed at how many small companies use a "hardware router" ie a Ł35 quid NAT router and then leave the default username and password to access it
Might as well not bother having any security

And having wireless just makes it worse..!!

Guinnless

I find a software firewall useful for picking up anything that tries to connect to the network unexpectedly. Not that I'd download anything that might be iffy

SS1

iTrader: (3)

my mates a hacker by trade well sort of .. he did a article for the daily mail
about hacking bank accounts ..got paid 5k for it ....
he swears by zone alarm ... not even the pro version ???

he also uses

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

to scan pc for virus scanning SEZZ it the cutting edge BETTER THAN NORTON

Ratty

iTrader: (1)

Then he dont know much about firewalls as all personal ones can be disabled from any website able to run activex on your pc

Hiding behind a NAT router is a good start, better still is a Stateful Packet Inspection hardware firewall with DOS protection or a NAT router and a linux firewall, like smoothwall or ipcop

Running without a firewall leaves your pc open to misuse, hosting ftp, warez, porn, anon proxy for attacks elsewhere the list is endless, or just someone deleting/renaming system files, crashing your connection/pc with a DOS attack

Upto you but I prefer my PC to be used by me only

SS1

iTrader: (3)

if you have activex instaled in the first place
not to sure bout his settings but he knows his onions
hes hacked into peoples webcams in the states ...been there ...SEEN IT UNREAL