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Apr 26, 2004, 8:12pm

Hello,
I was wondering what do you all think the best firewall is for XP? I host
servers and the current firewall is just a plain mess.

Jaguar Hahn

Apr 26, 2004, 8:24pm

I like Sygate personal pro, its a very good firewall with the capability of
application, protocol and port setup for advanced rules, its also very good
with XP Pro (I presume your not being a maniak and using XP Home as a server
host).

Depending on your bandwidth, you probably would do for a hardware firewall
also.

- MR


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Apr 26, 2004, 8:34pm

Yeah, I have XP Pro. To host, Pro is a MUST. Thanks :)

Jaguar Hahn



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Apr 26, 2004, 9:20pm

Your not going to live long on XP Pro my friend... and whats with the sudden
popup of new hosts? Some kind of new game or something?

--

Signed,
TheMask

:: Owner of Delusional-Minds Hosting ::
Free world hosting.. Just a T-Gram will do it.

http://www.delusional-minds.com

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Apr 26, 2004, 9:32pm

Personally, I use Zonealarm Pro. I don't know if it's the most secure
firewall, but I use it because despite popular belief it's the least bloated
and uses less resources than Kerio, Tiny Personal, and Sygate and
Norton's...I tried them all to test. Other than that it's powerful enough
for most people. The popup blocker is pretty good too.

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Apr 26, 2004, 9:49pm

nononono, I don't host public, I host my world and have for years. I am just
looking for a free firewall :) Mask: what's wrong with XP Pro?

Jaguar Hahn



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Apr 26, 2004, 10:24pm

Thought you were hosting like worlds and etc.


--

Signed,
TheMask

:: Owner of Delusional-Minds Hosting ::
Free world hosting.. Just a T-Gram will do it.

http://www.delusional-minds.com

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Apr 26, 2004, 11:03pm

Nope. Just my 1 world in AW.

Jaguar Hahn


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Apr 26, 2004, 11:34pm

real hosts use linux :O)

-Jeremy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeremy Booker - Owner / Webmaster
JTech Web Systems
www.JTechWebSystems.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Mathew 5:34





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Apr 27, 2004, 12:41am

I use Sygate Personal Firewall, it's free and you choose who accesses
your computer and it has logs and such.

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Apr 27, 2004, 12:46am

Real hosts use whatever operating system they are most comfortable with, and can make an effective business out of. You're comfortable with Linux -- others are equally so with Windows. OSes are numerous for a reason; each OS suits each person differently.

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Apr 27, 2004, 1:40am

[View Quote] There's also a "The best OS suited for the job" rule. For servers,
that's not windows, but Linux. For desktop/games, that's still Windows.
Then there's Mac's.

Apr 27, 2004, 2:15am

[View Quote] It is also just as easy to reverse your argument -- there are some server-related tasks for which Linux is unsuitable. It should also be taken into account that there are millions of users who depend on servers running Windows; the administrators of these systems have normally gone through some kind of formal training program. These administrators understand how the Windows system works, and can provide reliable services based on their knowledge. It's hard to run a reliable service without knowledge, isn't it? :)

Apr 27, 2004, 3:03am

for me a best firewall is bitdefender pro , ubdate automatique firewall and
antivirus

if you want testing i have a page free for in my site.

http://www.alusion-fr.com/an1v1.htm
:)

"jaguar hahn" <markterrell10 at hotmail.com> a écrit dans le message de
news:408d7b4c$1 at server1.Activeworlds.com...
> Hello,
> I was wondering what do you all think the best firewall is for XP? I host
> servers and the current firewall is just a plain mess.
>
> Jaguar Hahn
>
>

Apr 27, 2004, 4:31am

Bowen, the day that AW bots can run smoother and faster on a Linux
system than on Windows is the day I'll move one of my Windows servers to
Linux. :) I haven't tried software emulation, but I imagine it isn't so
hot with bots.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > There's also a "The best OS suited for the job" rule. For servers,
> that's not windows, but Linux. For desktop/games, that's still Windows.
> Then there's Mac's.

Apr 27, 2004, 4:42am

The best firewall is one that does not run on your PC.

With all those security holes, it is never a good idea
to connect a cable from a windows PC to the WWW. Some
virii attack ports before a software firewall can get
hold of those.

A small Pentium1 or PII running Linux between your PC
and the web is the best insurance and it should not be
too expencive. It doesn't need much, not even a HD.

Google for "Linux on a floppy" and you'll find firewall
projects with very low hardware ressource needs :-)


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Apr 27, 2004, 8:08am

[View Quote] agree

> A small Pentium1 or PII running Linux between your PC
> and the web is the best insurance and it should not be
> too expensive. It doesn't need much, not even a HD.
>
> Google for "Linux on a floppy" and you'll find firewall
> projects with very low hardware resource needs :-)

Linux firewall setup is not a cakewalk - especially for those who are not familiar with Linux and/or the IP protocol.

I'm an advocate of the multi-layer protections:

For the incoming protection the NAT (Network Address Translation) routers fairly adequate. You can get those routers for around $50-$100 range, almost all of them have decent port forwarding features and some even have stateful packet inspection. I did an exhaustive testing on about 15 different models and almost all did a good job.

For outgoing protection I personally use ZoneAlarm Pro and it suits my need. (I'm not using it's web protecting features like popup blocking but YMMV). I did block all unused ports within my HW router too to both directions.

For general protection - turn off all services in the OS you are not using to minimize the vulnerability of the given OS.

Never open unknown files/attachments and be paranoid even from the known sources (as Ananas proposes in other threads - run the trojan detector/virus checker on the newly acquired files before open them ).

Of course good security doesn't come free - don't expect to get that one :)

--
Andras
"It's MY computer" (tm Steve Gibson)

Apr 27, 2004, 9:49am

[View Quote] Then your imagination is bad. WINE runs SDK programs quite well, better
than windows. Of course, if you're using massive amounts of windows API
calls it might not be nearly as good as it would be just using the SDK
and ISO/ANSI C++.

Guess you better start moving. :P Getting WINE to work is the hard part. :P

Apr 27, 2004, 9:50am

[View Quote] [View Quote] Not necessarily. Windows takes a lot of the "knowledge" out of server
running, they expect the software to do most of the work for them --
which is exactly why these viruses spread like wildfire. Admins that
have NO clue what the hell they're doing.

Apr 27, 2004, 2:24pm

Hmm...I'll have to buy you a "I <3 Linus T." bumper sticker first,
Bowen, before I make the move. ;)

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

[View Quote] > Then your imagination is bad. WINE runs SDK programs quite well, better
> than windows. Of course, if you're using massive amounts of windows API
> calls it might not be nearly as good as it would be just using the SDK
> and ISO/ANSI C++.
>
> Guess you better start moving. :P Getting WINE to work is the hard
> part. :P

Apr 28, 2004, 4:01am

I'm in the process of moving everything over from my old PCIII to my new
Dell 8300 PC4(XP). I had been running ZoneAlarm on the old one, and was
contemplating changing to the firewall provided by XP on the new machine.
Anybody have any opinions on the XP Firewall? Am seriously thinking of
going back to Zone Alarm. (ZA seemed to run quite well on the old PC,btw.)

But, now, you say to use another machine as firewall. How would I set up my
old PCIII as one? It would even have a 6gig HD!! Also runs Win98SE at
600mhz. Would I need just the CPU or the whole system?? (I really don't
have the space for a 2nd PC tho--it really has become quite crowded at my
desk of late!)

Thanks for all your help,
--Lady Barbara

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Apr 28, 2004, 4:39am

You would not need the whole system, if you can plug the
monitor to it just sometimes (during boot or installation).
While it runs, it doesn't need a monitor.

You will need to keep the keyboard though, some PCs do not
really like it if you unplug the keyboard while they run.
But of course you can put the keyboard under the desk most
of the time as you will not need it while the firewall PC
just routes your network traffic. A mouse is not needed for
this system.

For the firewall stuff, this link should be the right one :
http://www.jimweller.net/jim/lfw/

If you kept Win98, this would still not be secure as it has
a good "virus compatibility" to your XP so if a virus would
manage to sneak into your Win98 it would infect your XP too.

There are not that many virii for Linux running wild and even
if you would catch one, it is very unlikely that it could
infect your XP to.

An option is always a hardware router of course, like Andras
said, I have one too - but the Linux/Minix solution is worth
a try I think.


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Apr 28, 2004, 5:58pm

Then, I take it, using an extra PC as a firewall would really only be good
if it ran Linux! My old one is a Win98se. And I do have crampt quarters
here--maybe using something like ZoneAlarm wouldn't be bad then, after all!

I'll give that suggestion a looksee tho. Thanks again,
Barbara

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Apr 28, 2004, 6:05pm

Thanks ananas! I took a looksee at your suggested Linux setup! Since I
know hardly anything about that stuff, I think for now I'll take the easy
way out and go back to Zone Alarm---maybe even get Zone Alarm Pro even!
Sometimes I would like to know where those odds and ends are coming from!

Again, thanks you and everybody else for your suggestions.

Warm regards,
Barbara

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Apr 28, 2004, 7:19pm

[View Quote] > Thanks ananas! I took a looksee at your suggested Linux setup! Since I
> know hardly anything about that stuff, I think for now I'll take the easy
> way out and go back to Zone Alarm---maybe even get Zone Alarm Pro even!
> Sometimes I would like to know where those odds and ends are coming from!
>
> Again, thanks you and everybody else for your suggestions.
>
> Warm regards,
> Barbara
>

Linux firewall is not a simple thing if you are not familiar with it.
OTOH getting ZoneAlarm Pro is a good choice - it gives you a really fine details of control on the layman terms :)
I still suggest to have a NAT router (Linksys, DLink, SMC, you name it) in front of your computers.


--
Andras
"It's MY computer" (tm Steve Gibson)

Apr 28, 2004, 8:16pm

And dont use the regular XP Firewall.. it's totally stupid.

--

Signed,
TheMask

:: Owner of Delusional-Minds Hosting ::
Free world hosting.. Just a T-Gram will do it.

http://www.delusional-minds.com

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Apr 28, 2004, 9:17pm

Ok, no XP firewall. Will get Zone Alarm Pro. But I"m having another
program--sorta related:

Aylla just tried to send me a couple of her gorgeous avatars by email. (I
use Outlook Express.) They were not allowed to come through. However she
did send a test email without attatchments wich did come through.

What sort of settings should I have in XP and/or ZoneAlarm which would allow
me have files sent to me??? (I do have Norton's Anti-Virus set up now.)

Barbara

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Apr 29, 2004, 1:02am

Should be somethwere in settings...

--

Signed,
TheMask

:: Owner of Delusional-Minds Hosting ::
Free world hosting.. Just a T-Gram will do it.

http://www.delusional-minds.com

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Apr 29, 2004, 2:00am

Outlook is known to block certain types of attachments (such as EXE
files). I would look in the help file to see how to change the settings,
since I haven't used Outlook in years.

I would also take a look at Thunderbird. It does almost everything
Outlook does, but is more secure (and free).

http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/

Don't let the version number scare you. I haven't had any problems with
it yet, even though it hasn't reached official version one status.

Builderz
http://www.3dhost.net

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