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How effective is this application in the hands of an "computer idiot"?
I use ZoneAlarm which seems to do the job well enough but the
suggestion was made to use BlackIce instead. I know nothing about
PCs beyond word processing, data base, spreadsheets, graphics and
presentation stuff.

Thanks.

ZoneAlarm has been hacked for years. McCaffey
and F-secure work fine. I run both ( home, work )
with firewall turned on. SP2 does nothing except block
printing. McCaffey will make you nervous seeing all
the malware probes ... get over it, and deny incoming
probes. If you have a home PC that you are worried
about, I think the entire McCaffey Security Center
install is well worth the price. I also recommend that
you have email filtering done at your ISP as well as
letting the McCaffey spam filter run locally. I use
Postini at my ISP, and I have a no-name running
on the email server at work. It works pretty well too.
As for the Off-Brands .. ?? .... kid stuff. There is
always a faster gun .. there is always a well-educated
know-it-all bashing MicroSoft. They are full of it,
and are just putting you down. Work with McCaffey.
They have earned it.

johns

If I recall correctly, BlackICE had a major security hole last year
that allowed anyone in... so, nothing is perfect. I wouldn't go so far
as to say that ZA has been "hacked for years", but it's certainly not
the highest standard of IDS/firewall. I'm using Sygate Personal
Firewall Pro, and I honestly couldn't be happier with it; I even have
it set up to email me if there's a critical intrusion detected. It's
great

-ds

"Dan" <dan-> wrote ...
> How effective is this application in the hands of an "computer idiot"?
> I use ZoneAlarm which seems to do the job well enough but the
> suggestion was made to use BlackIce instead. I know nothing about
> PCs beyond word processing, data base, spreadsheets, graphics and
> presentation stuff.

If you don't mind a slight learning curve the Kerio [free] is my choice.
You don't say if you have ZA Free or Pro.

The following are IMO standard tools
+ AV app
+ Ad/Spyware app [Ad-aware and/or spybot both free]
+ Update your OS with security patches
+ SW Firewall
+ Store your personal docs in an encrypted format or container [especially sensitive
material]
+ Backup ALL personal doc/files to an external or separate internal drive [Hourly if
necessary .. I use Second Copy]
+ A NAT Router [Some with the addition of a basic firewall] which can be got for a
few pound/dollars on EBay or a few more new [offers a good level of basic defence].

Dan <dan-> wrote in
news::

> How effective is this application in the hands of an
> "computer idiot"? I use ZoneAlarm which seems to do the job
> well enough but the suggestion was made to use BlackIce
> instead. I know nothing about PCs beyond word processing,
> data base, spreadsheets, graphics and presentation stuff.
>
> Thanks.

I am currently using SyGate (free) and think it is a fine
product.. You may also want to look at Agnathium Outpost,
there is a free version also.

I find SyGate an effective firewall that does just that.
Outpost has a lot more functionality, including blocking of
ad. site, filtering, and a dns cache.. It is also more
complex to manage, but once setup it more or less runs
itself..

So, download them, use them for a while, and see what suites
you..

Note... they WILL NOT co-exist. Also, read the Outpost
manual first..

Good luck,
KH.

Use.Netuser.de <> wrote:

> "Dan" <dan-> wrote ...
> > How effective is this application in the hands of an "computer idiot"?
> > I use ZoneAlarm which seems to do the job well enough but the
> > suggestion was made to use BlackIce instead. I know nothing about
> > PCs beyond word processing, data base, spreadsheets, graphics and
> > presentation stuff.
>
> If you don't mind a slight learning curve the Kerio [free] is my choice.
> You don't say if you have ZA Free or Pro.
>
yup kerio is quite good use it on my windows box it apears to do what i
want off a windows firewall ie watch ingoing/outgoing connections,
though the said pc is behind a NAT router so its reltivly safe in that
regard.

snip tools

Roger

On 4 Oct 2004 08:20:21 GMT, I found this from KHaled
<> :

>Dan <dan-> wrote in
>news: :
>
>> How effective is this application in the hands of an
>> "computer idiot"? I use ZoneAlarm which seems to do the job
>> well enough but the suggestion was made to use BlackIce
>> instead. I know nothing about PCs beyond word processing,
>> data base, spreadsheets, graphics and presentation stuff.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
>I am currently using SyGate (free) and think it is a fine
>product.. You may also want to look at Agnathium Outpost,
>there is a free version also.
>
>I find SyGate an effective firewall that does just that.
>Outpost has a lot more functionality, including blocking of
>ad. site, filtering, and a dns cache.. It is also more
>complex to manage, but once setup it more or less runs
>itself..
>
>So, download them, use them for a while, and see what suites
>you..
>
>Note... they WILL NOT co-exist. Also, read the Outpost
>manual first..
>
>Good luck,
>KH.

Thanks for the advice. I am currently trying out Outpost Personal
Firewall Pro 2.1. I took your advice and read the manual! There is one
problem which is a worry. Although the DNS Cache Event Log (and the
others) indicates that there has been activity, eg Cache Hits 4, their
is nothing in the Detailed Log. In fact nothing in any of the logs. I
was looking forward to examining the contents. I may well give this
application a miss.

Regards