Free or cheap Firewall for an ACER laptop?

NiftyDigits

kobracai wrote: »

@Nifty, details are in the OP. ACER Aspire E1-570 Laptop, Intel® Core™ i3-3217U processor, Windows 8

Oh yes, of course....not enough sleep this morning

NiftyDigits

kobracai wrote: »

I am not sure if they had it rebooted or what, they are always a bit cagey of what they do (dude was speaking with a heavy Indian accent and mumbling his words), plus I am not very techie savy. I’ll ask here beforehand from now on.

@NiftyDigits, Thanks for the restore link

Regarding the dongle, I bought a 02 prepaid sim off Ebay a while which was incredibly convenient (3gb at £10), just an offer. I had the dongle unlocked and the 02 sim was working fine on it before the virus

Do you guys have any advice on what to look out when downloading to be on the safe side please?

PS: Do you guys also know how to get a THREE broadband dongle to surf with a 02 sim card? Do I need to register the 02 profile in the dongle?

You suggest that it was working with the O2 SIM beforehand.
You need to give more details as to what exactly is occurring now.

Details of the modem, whether the connection software is installed to the laptop.
Is the SIM more than 30 days old? Is it for use with a USB modem or is it for use with Tablets exclusively?

A better deal would be this EE data SIM. 6GB of data over three months for £15. Specifically for USB modem/MiFi

kobracai

I managed to enter the O2 details before (username and APN) but I don't remember how to do it anymore lol...
Or perhaps I just stumbled into it

By modem you mean the USB dongle, ? it’s a ZTE MF112 if memory doesn’t fail me. I can’t seem to find the APN anymore in the dongle advanced settings, so I can enter the O2 one

“the connection software is installed to the laptop” not sure what you mean by this. The 3 software is installed in the laptop, yes, if that’s what you mean. It could pick up the 02 connection before

NiftyDigits

kobracai wrote: »

I managed to enter the O2 details before (username and APN) but I don't remember how to do it anymore lol...
Or perhaps I just stumbled into it

By modem you mean the USB dongle, ? it’s a ZTE MF112 if memory doesn’t fail me. I can’t seem to find the APN anymore in the dongle advanced settings, so I can enter the O2 one

“the connection software is installed to the laptop” not sure what you mean by this. The 3 software is installed in the laptop, yes, if that’s what you mean. It could pick up the 02 connection before

Usually, the Three software does not allow you to add another APN/Profile.
So you need to use the Windows 8 Connection Manager

kobracai

Sounds like way more effort than it’s worth lol… I’ll just buy an unlocked dongle and that’s it. Thanks for the advice.

NiftyDigits

kobracai wrote: »

Sounds like way more effort than it’s worth lol… I’ll just buy an unlocked dongle and that’s it. Thanks for the advice.

You'll have the same issue, especially if you claim that already have an unlocked modem.
Instead of adding the details to the Three software, Windows 8 has it own connection software. You just add it there.

Do let ignorance hold you back...otherwise you just end up paying for everything.

onomatopoeia99

quidsinquentin wrote: »

Don't routers provide some protection? Using one with the Windows firewall and a standard one should give you plenty of protections. Add in an anti-virus and maybe Malwarebytes and you should be fine.

A router configured to perform network address translation (one public WAN side address to multiple private LAN side addresses) will prevent attacks on exposed services on the local computer(s) coming from the internet. It will not prevent a compromised device on the local network attacking other devices on the network, nor will it prevent a compromised device launching attacks on other computers on the internet, nor will it stop a compromised device opening holes in the NAT routing to allow malicious data in. So, it provides limited intrusion protection only, but you may judge this sufficient for your needs.

kobracai

NiftyDigits wrote: »

You'll have the same issue, especially if you claim that already have an unlocked modem.
Instead of adding the details to the Three software, Windows 8 has it own connection software. You just add it there.

Do let ignorance hold you back...otherwise you just end up paying for everything.

Thanks... any advice on how to add it to Windows 8?

NiftyDigits

kobracai wrote: »

Thanks... any advice on how to add it to Windows 8?

There is a link in post #25.

Gillor

kobracai wrote: »

Do you guys have any advice on what to look out when downloading to be on the safe side please?

To indicate whether a site is safe or not install the WOT (Web of Trust) add-on to your Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome browser.

If the site is flagged as safe save any downloads from that site to your desktop and scan with Malwarebytes before running/installing.

But mainly common sense - if a site looks dodgy it probably is.