Zone alarm problem

MiserlyMartin

Has AVG got a firewall nowadays then? I don't want the new Zonealarm, it probably has lots of crap I don't need and adverts etc. judging by the filesize. The old free zonealarm was good but the newer ones have been 'bloated'

Cat695

fwor wrote: »

We're not really quarrelling - it's just that in this specific case cat695 isn't giving very sound advice.

You only have to look at the possibility of the next "zero day attack" - where a hole is exploited before your antivirus/spyware knows about it - to realise that a firewall such as ZA could save your bacon.

its because of people like you scare mongering that people get so excited about firewalls etc and end up wasting money for nothing!!!why are you that important that you would be targeted when there are 6 + billion people on the planet........

in 15 years of computing and being on the internet pretty much since it started i've had 5 virus's 3 from my own download habits using P2P which were easily removed with FREE antivirus softwware

zero day attck rubbish you sound like my dad because he read a magazine that said some rubbish about hackers......all you need to use is a good FREE antivirus LIKE AVG and a good FREE antispam/spyware and keep them upto date and you will have NO problems if your using a modem then you already have a firewall!!!!

Unless your actually worth robbing then (do you hold all your creditcard info on your pc??? probably not and stupid if you do) what are they going to do steal your pictures of last months BBQ ooooooh the most they can do is corrupt your harddrive...which erm can be formatted and used again the cost is NOTHING.......they can't steal your car or rob your bank no matter what people say (or no one would bank online now would they)

like i said NORMAL people have NO worries because you have NOTHING to steal OFF your PC

Zero day attack....jesus what other rubbish will you think of next

fwor

Cat695 wrote: »

its because of people like you scare mongering that people get so excited about firewalls etc and end up wasting money for nothing!!!why are you that important that you would be targeted when there are 6 + billion people on the planet...

It's a shame that you don't appear to know what you are talking about.

Zonealarm is a free firewall, so I don't understand your reference to "wasting money".

Also, you don't seem to have understood the way that internet based attacks work. Many of them don't target you specifically, they use guesswork or purely random attacks. If you do a little bit of research about how many PCs are currently "owned" by botnets, you'll realise that you can't afford to be complacent.

Cat695

There is currently over 1 billion pc's in the world (estimated to be more) with a estimated 1 million pcs infected with a botnet (possible more also possible less) so you have more chance of winning the lottery than getting a botnet


just so you can see these figures......
A million minutes ago was – 1 year, 329 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes ago.
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.

you should be more worried about your details being stolen from your rubbish than getting a bloody botnet

Stop bloody scare mongering

IcyEars

Cat695 wrote: »

you should be more worried about your details being stolen from your rubbish than getting a bloody botnet

Stop bloody scare mongering

Here here, buy the man a pint for talking sense!

:T :beer:

fwor

Cat695 wrote: »

Stop bloody scare mongering

What's your motive here?

Why do you want people to avoid using a free firewall?

Do you know how many PCs a botnet infected PC can attempt to attack in an hour? Or a day?

Try comparing how many people might be searching through your rubbish with how many people (or owned PCs) might randomly access your IP address from anywhere in the world.

Cat695

i'm not saying he shouldn't use zone alarm i'm saying there are BETTER alternates that are more user friendly (seeing as he's having problems with it)

And just for your info the botnets have to go through your ISP's DNS server to get to you (as NO ONE is directly connected to the internet) which is also firewalled then through your modem/router which again is firewalled!!!

Not only that your ISP's server will have extra security to STOP these botnets (at least in this country)

i'm not saying you will never get one but the chance of getting one is so slim you have more chance of winning the lottery

IcyEars

fwor wrote: »

What's your motive here?

Why do you want people to avoid using a free firewall?

Do you know how many PCs a botnet infected PC can attempt to attack in an hour? Or a day?

Try comparing how many people might be searching through your rubbish with how many people (or owned PCs) might randomly access your IP address from anywhere in the world.

I don't think he is urging complacency, just trying to add a little common sense into the discussion.

For a start, Cat695 is pointing out the statistical liklyhood of actually getting a botnet.

Secondly, and IMO far more important, is that botnets are usually installed via viruses/trojans/etc, so having an up to date virus checker is far far more important than a firewall.

The firewall side is almost like bolting the barn door after the horse has bolted. Add to this the fact that in most firewalls you can allow software access. If you get annoyed at the popups saying that suchandsuch.exe has requested access and just click allow to stop it coming back and that happened to be a botnet, then the firewall has just become useless.

Cat695

The firewall side is almost like bolting the barn door after the horse has bolted. Add to this the fact that in most firewalls you can allow software access. If you get annoyed at the popups saying that suchandsuch.exe has requested access and just click allow to stop it coming back and that happened to be a botnet, then the firewall has just become useless.[/quote]


thank you a well made point

IcyEars

You missed the start of the quote though! :whistle: