jacksonbart Posted April 4, 2005 Share Posted April 4, 2005 My annual subscription to McAfee is up and I am wondering if there is something else better out there. I run Windows XP and have a 3.2 GHz Dell XPS and use a cable modem. Any input or personal experiences would be appreciated, aside from switching to an Apple product. I have not had a problem with McAfee, just wonder if there is something better out there. Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shade Posted April 7, 2005 Share Posted April 7, 2005 If you really want something better, get a router with a built in firewall. Much better than software firewalls, as any incoming traffic is blocked at the router before it even reached your PC. Occasionally one can score a Belkin after rebates for about $20. Full price on a Linksys would be around $50. It it a lot different than a software firewall, as it is not application based. In the router's setup, you have to allow port ranges by TCP & UDP. For example, if you wanted to setup an FTP server, you would open port 21 for TCP. As an added benefit, routers generally come with a built in switch. Makes it easy to hook up another computer in the home with networking ability & internet access. If this is more than you're looking to deal with, I'd stick with McAfee. It's a pretty good software firewall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 There's a Belkin router with 4-port switch and 802.11g wireless capability for $10 after rebate at Best Buy starting today... Another small benefit of using a router between your PC and your cable modem is that your PC no longer has a public IP address that is directly addressable from the Internet. Not truly security, but every little bit helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted April 11, 2005 Share Posted April 11, 2005 I would definately employ a layered approach utilizing both the hardware based firewall as well as a local software based firewall. Routers are not that difficult to circumvent. And I personally prefer ZoneAlarm Pro for the desktop. ESPECIALLY if you are using any form of wireless prior to the new 802.11i-AES security standard that supercedes both the broken WEP and Wi-FI that utilize the fundamentally flawed RC4 cypher primative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted April 11, 2005 Share Posted April 11, 2005 If you are using non-802.11i-AES wireless, you would also need to add IPSec VPN capabilities as well to the router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 Thank you for the responces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 ZOneAlarm and AVG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmay119 Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 I would definately employ a layered approach utilizing both the hardware based firewall as well as a local software based firewall. Routers are not that difficult to circumvent. And I personally prefer ZoneAlarm Pro for the desktop. ESPECIALLY if you are using any form of wireless prior to the new 802.11i-AES security standard that supercedes both the broken WEP and Wi-FI that utilize the fundamentally flawed RC4 cypher primative. I agree with dragonfyr. I myself also use the layered security approach. I have a Netgear WGT624 for my Wireless home network, It has WPA-SK encryption and Stateful Packet Inspection (which I think is truely a must in todays routers). Although I'm not familiar with the AES wireless security standard. Could you be more specific dragonfyr on what that is/does? Thanks. I personally use Sygate Personal firewall, I also recommend ZoneAlarm Pro, but it didn't play well with my Anti-virus so I had to find another solution. (I'm using NOD32 Anti-virus BTW). Also, I have every computer on the network communicating in IPX/SPX protocal instead of TCP/IP so computers outside of the network can't "listen" in on the conversations between the home PCs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saggas Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 if you have an old comp laying around, turn that into a firewall, just download smoothwall and follow the prompts. damn simple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cide Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Not to mention, Smoothwall is probably one of the most secure options. For now I am using the XP firewall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTTR Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 I use a hardware firewall now (Linksys WRT54GS wireless rouger) But in my old 56k days I had good experience with ZoneAlarm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 I use the router firewall on my netgear as first line of defense, then I default my desktop as dmz I have avg free edition anti virus, I disabled the mircosoft firewall, I use tiny firewall (a free firewall that does not bother me every second! and uses very little memory) Also all the free anti spyware programs and mozilla. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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