To firewall .. or not?

[James]

Hello,

I used Zone Alarm firewall, but following its latest update I have been unable to access the internet on my wifi network. The desktop computer is fine, but the laptop will not connect to the internet unless I shut down Zone Alarm on the desktop.

I triedSo I uninstalled Zone Alarm and now rely solely on the XP built-in firewall (I have made sure I am up to date with Windows update).

Have I put my system at risk?

[francis]

It depends on whether you trust MS for your security! MS have announced XPSP2 for August and there's a huge amount of security fixes and updates including, IIRC, a large update to their Firewall.

[David]

The MS firewall in XP is very basic and the new one in XP SP2 has been completely rewritten so I would be wary. Software firewalls seem to work fine on standalone machines but I have experienced many problems using them over networks. The solution? A hardware NAT/SPI firewall. Most recent broadband routers now come with a firewall as standard. Not sure how you connect to the internet but it might be worth thinking about for the future.

Our local exchange just went digital a couple of weeks ago and I've been enjoying broadband at home for the last week or so (can't tell you what a diference it has made). Anyway, I took the opportunity to redesign my home network. Now I have a DrayTek Vigor 2600plus (http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2600plus.html). This gives me an ADSL modem, router/switch, firewall, print server and VPN terminal all in one box. All for £130 including VAT. A bargain and the VPN stuff means that I can connect to my home network wherever I am.

I still use the Norton software firewall on my PC for belt-and-braces and to control which applications are allowed internet access and which are not, but it means that I don't feel naked if I ever need to turn that off in order to resolve an internal network problem.

[francis]

Originally posted by David@Jul 13 2004, 4:41 pm
can't tell you what a diference it has made
Oh, go on :)

[David]

If you insist...

2 highlights:

1. being able to modify a page in Dreamweaver and just click the upload button - edited pages instantly online.

2. BBC 6Music while I work.

:D

[francis]

Just ordered broadband. Can't wait.

[David]

Which ISP did you go for?

[francis]

I've always been with Demon, and as I've got so many things on so many emailling lists/sites I stuck with them. As it turned out, they've just started a "no setup fee and free modem offer" which has saved me ££. BT apparently are already doing this. It's "only" 500kbs as opposed to the full 1Meg, but that's plenty to be getting on with!

+++++++

Vaguely returning the original topic of this thread - MS have just released a whopping 5 critical updates in the last 24 hours! Another reason for increased security. From something I read today, one of the updates fixes the problem Moz products had last week.

[Phil]

not too sure about zonealarm, but NIS allows you to mark your local network as trusted. so if you're locally using a 192.168.1.xxx range you can make it trust anything within this.

means anything there can access all ports on machines inside. a lot easier than creating rules for all your house machines. i'm sure zonealarm has this too.