Firewalls - are they really needed?

jasonwatkins

i lost a few hundred mp3's on that one - i'd hate that to happen now, considering i've got about 6,000 on my PC

aliEnRIK

The one I had kept 'popping up' to run on bootup
Id eventually had enough (none of my security programs could find it at the time), so i clicked RUN and it went haywire.
BUT
Anti virus then found it and deleted it

jasonwatkins

funny thing is, i didn't even use anti virus back then when i got caught.

i just re-formatted, started again and spent a few weeks re-ripping the cd's all over again.

haven't had any trouble since.

aliEnRIK

jasonwatkins wrote: »

funny thing is, i didn't even use anti virus back then when i got caught.

i just re-formatted, started again and spent a few weeks re-ripping the cd's all over again.

haven't had any trouble since.

Ive reformatted my drive maybe 4 times? the last time was 4 years ago, im quite adept at removing nasties now (And i DONT 'safe surf' (my choice))

[Deleted User]

Software firewalls are ineffective by their very nature, but I guess they get by on the comfort they bring to whoever employs trust in them. Money can't buy that..

peter_the_piper

I've noticed that this discussion is generally between a few very experienced posters who are generally very knowledgeable regarding the workings of the net and computers. Is it really being suggested that for the millions of non techie users a firewall is not necessary?

jasonwatkins

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Ive reformatted my drive maybe 4 times? the last time was 4 years ago, im quite adept at removing nasties now (And i DONT 'safe surf' (my choice))

i've reformatted my drive 4 times in the past 3 months

and i most certainly do not 'safe surf' either. the reason i keep reformatting is more out of boredom than anything because i keep switching between windows xp, vista and linux.

although having recently upgraded to a 400gb hard drive, with a reformat time of around 2 and a half hours, that might not happen as much !

aliEnRIK

anewhope wrote: »

Software firewalls are ineffective by their very nature, but I guess they get by on the comfort they bring to whoever employs trust in them. Money can't buy that..

define ~
'ineffective'

nickj_2

check out your firewall and what info your pc is giving out here
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

jasonwatkins

anewhope wrote: »

I guess they get by on the comfort they bring to whoever employs trust in them. Money can't buy that..

I think that's it really - if someone wants to use anti-virus, anti-spyware/malware as well as a firewall on top of everything then if that makes them feel secure then that's just as fine as someone who is comfortable with not using anything.

swings and roundabouts really ..