You lot have ruined my antivirus!!!!!!!!!!!

LincsLad_3

Everyone slates m$, but they normally have the fix before the virus comes along.

Now you DO have me confused. Assume that by "m$" you mean Microsoft, and if they have the fix available "before the virus comes along" , then why do viruses replicate and spread. More to the point, since when did Microsoft provide virus solutions? They may patch security holes in their own code, but that's not really the same thing in any case.

As to the SP2 Firewall - I agree it is a step forward from the XP original version. I will still stick to a third party product though.

Microsoft security sucks - not to put too fine a point on it. I don't envy them their job and the number of holes is due in no small part to the complexity of their code which does one heck of a lot of impressive stuff. Security is not their forte though - nor will it be for several years to come. If they were to concentrate on their 'core business' and not try and be all things to all men, then the [IT] world might be a better place.

StrikeEagle

Hehe ye I think you're right. 3rd party products are probably a lot better.

That blaster worm that came out, the fix (to block the port) was already out before the worm came along. That's what I meant, rather than virus fix.

Good idea about setting the DMZ as a non-existant IP.

LincsLad_3

That blaster worm that came out, the fix (to block the port) was already out before the worm came along. That's what I meant, rather than virus fix.

Yup, point taken - but don't you think Blaster was exploiting the fact that people were/are loathe to install MS patches cos they often cause/caused more trouble than they fixed? Allegedly.
:-/

cloud_dog

I agree with Toxteth, anyone running broadband should have a good ADSL Modem/Router/Firewall. This isn't the be-all-and-end-all but they will sheild your PC from the outside world thereby negating specific malicious attacks. Then all you need to worry about is what you aer doing / downloading.

cloud_dog

Rex_Mundi

Everyone slates m$, but they normally have the fix before the virus comes along.

It seems they were sleeping through this latest threat to IE.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=57700320

Toxteth_OGrady

My rig is up-to-date with all current MS patches post XP2.

Just tried IE on the vulnerability test and got

You are vulnerable to the "Internet Explorer Command Execution Vulnerability"

:-[

Glad I don't use IE.

Not a peep out of my Opera 8 beta when I ran the test

8)

TOG

Pat__3

Basically I feel that it's best to track down your listening ports, close them, and then surely you dont need the firewall since nothing is accepting incoming connections?

For those that not computer savvy, how do you track down your listening ports and close them. ???

Is this a complicated thing to do, is it possible to explain how to do it, in a easy to follow format for us non savvies please. :-/

I would like to be more comp savvy, and its very helpful on here, the things that you learn, and appreciate any help that is available, to keep my comp running smoothly and safely.

£$&*"($£&(

You can get your computer scanned for open ports by Shields Up here:

https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

With a firewall running no ports should be open. My older computers never had open ports and so I never ran firewalls or antivirus. My new laptop did have open ports and I now run Zonealarm. If they can be closed without running a firewall I would be very interested to know how.

Rex_Mundi

For those that not computer savvy, how do you track down your listening ports and close them.

The best, and easiest way to do this is to use a firewall. This is what they are there to do.

Consider, you have 65,535 TCP ports and 65,535 UDP ports. A firewall can cover all of these in one hit. It is perfectly possible to find your open ports and close them, but, different programs use different ports. So first you will have to find out exactly why a certain port is open, it can be a program running in the background searching for updates. If you closed the port, you would stop the program updating.

Also you have the problem of monitoring your ports in 'real time' . If you are on the net and open a web page that has been infected with a trojan or other bit of malware. The latest trick for malware doesn't even need you to click yes to install it on your system, it will happen as soon as you open the web page. You may feel safe, that you've closed all your uneeded ports. But, if a trojan installed itself, gathered the information it wanted, then opens one of the ports to send back the info to its makers. Without some way of constantly monitoring your ports you won't know its happening. Your passwords and other sensitive data would have already gone by the time you manually check your ports.

Firewalls are not foolproof, but, in the above case any decent firewall would have been monitoring all of your ports all of the time. You would normally get a warning from your firewall that a new program wants to access the internet. You would then get the chance to stop the info leaving your computer before its too late.

Fortyfoot

Thanks everyone, very informative and entertaining!

I put the free Zonealarm on about a month ago after reading reports on MSE. It works fine. Have given Norton etc access to the net.

Errors I had before with Explorer do not happen now.

Very pleased with the advice given on the MSE site.

Thanks again,
Fortyfoot
8)