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186
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 21/07/2008 14:40:46
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| Hi all, I've just read issue 1000, and found it to be great from cover to cover. Well, except for a bit of a blunder from Jason D'Allison in his column. The first question referred to software firewalls, and the merits (not) of the Microsoft Firewall in XP. I agree with Jason that the XP Firewall is . . . erm . . . "poor" to put it politely, and the fact that it doesn't Filter outgoing network traffic is indeed the main reason. But on the next paragraph Jason admits to only using a hardware firewall on his Router! Does he not realise that these, too, do not block outgoing IP/UDP traffic from the local network? So, he decries the XP firewall for one reason, but advocates a hardware solution, which has exactly the same fault! Sorry Jason, "classic schoolboy error" there, old son! In fact, the reason (as I'm sure many here know), that hardware routers don't block outgoing traffic is that only the originating computer (or more likely the computer operator) can intelligently filter outgoing requests by software - the hardware firewall *has* to assume that any requests from other devices on the network are valid (it could ask them I suppose, but I'm not aware of any manufacturer that actually implements such a scheme). This is why all PC's on a LAN should have a good, up to date software firewall, to prevent them from sending *out* unwanted packets from software on the PC. I wouldn't mind so much, but MicroMart itself has discussed the merits of hardware and software firewalls in the "What's the Worst That Could Happen . . ." series, iirc. Tut, tut Mr D'Allison - hang your head in shame! 
______________________ Dangerous Dave - Renaissance Man. 
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Santa Pig
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Today @ 15:06:57
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I have not used a third party software firewall for years and my machine is neither spyware nor virus ridden.
Dave R
XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC 
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Pentium
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 09:15:37
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Some folk are luckily protected by the software, firmware and hardware of their chosen ISP. I used to be so protected, on a business community server, until the numpties who ran it cut the IT budget and protection, quickly making them a lucrative target. Lucky to have my own decent AV suite and firewall, that protected my PC and warned me, I quickly got re-homed on to a protected server.  (It's probably just a coincidence that the business community later went bust.)
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Still Learning and Trying to Keep It Simple in Sharing knowledge
[A] rig..ASUS-EN8500GT SATA-320+80GB G31MX-S2 2.6GHz E2160 2G
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486
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 16:18:24
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I haev a router with Hardware firewall in it and ZA on all pc's on the network. AV on all as well.
Computers Prometheus ASrocks 4Core dual SATA2, Intel E2200 2.2ghz, 2gb Crucial 1GB DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300, Saphire HD 3650 512mb, 250gb, 80gbHDD Dual bootedXP & Hardu HeronF@H 24/7
Orion (Server), Dell Poweredge Sc440 Dual Core E2180, 512mb DDR2 667 EEC Ram.
Hard Drives : 80GB, 250GB, 200GB, 500GB Samsung Spinpoint, 500gb Samsung SpinpointF@H
Lancelot, AMD Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47Ghz, 512mb PC2700(166) Ram,
Mobo - MSIKM3M-V, Hard Drives : 40GBF@H 24/7 Merlin, AMD Sempron 2800+ 2.0Ghz, Mobo : K75741MG-6L, 512MB PC2700 (166) Ram, Nvidia Geeforce?, Hard Drives : 160GB, 130gbF@H 24/7 Excalibur (Media Centre), AMD Athlon 2800+, 512MB PC3200 Ram, Hard Drives : 40GB, 40GB F@H Camelot (Family), Intel Celeron 800Mhz, 256MB Ram, Hard Drives : 30GB Atlantis, Intel Pentium 4 2.4Ghz, 512MB Ram, Hard Drives : 40GB F@HThor (Laptop, Mint 4.0), AMD Athlon XP 1600+, 600MB Ram, Graphics : S3 VT8636A ProSavage, Hard Drives : 30gb HDD Stargate (Laptop), Intel Pentium 4 2.8Ghz, 512MB Ram, Hard Drives : 30gb HDD
Consoles
Xbox360 - Xbox - PS1 - PS2 - PSP - DS - GBA - GB Colour - Game Gear - N64 - SNES - NES - Mega Drive - Sega Saturn -
http://www.toughguy.co.uk
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Octo-core Atom @ 233GHz (ES)
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Today @ 20:06:05
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| As with Dave (above), I stopped using a software firewall some time ago and it's made not the slightest difference. The router's firewall is enough. If I've made a mistake (it wouldn't be the first!), I apologise. I freely admit that networking isn't my strongest subject. I maintain that the general advice was correct, but maybe my way of getting there wasn't! :-(
Classic PCs
Original IBM PC (4.77MHz 8088, 256KB RAM, monochrome) · Original IBM PC XT (4.77MHz 8088, 512KB, 10MB HDD, monochrome) · Original Compaq Deskpro (7.14MHz 8086, 640KB, 20MB HDD, CGA graphics)
Home Computers
Commodore VIC-20 · C64 original · C64 Terminator edition · C16 · Amiga 500 · Amiga 600 · Amiga 600 HD · Amiga 1200 Acorn Electron · A3010 (Archimedes) · A4000 (Archimedes) Others Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K · Dragon 32
Consoles
Nintendo Wii · GameCube purple (x 2) · GameCube black · N64 black (x 2) · N64 clear blue · SNES (x 2) · NES (x 2) · DS silver (x 3) · GBA SP silver · GBA purple · GBA clear · Game Boy Color clear · Game Boy Sega Dreamcast x 3 · Saturn · Mega Drive II · Mega Drive · Master System Atari 10-in-1 · Jaguar (x 2) · 7800 · 2600 wood-grain Microsoft Xbox 360 · Xbox Others Mattel Intellivision · MB Vectrex · GoldStar 3DO · Sony PlayStation (original)
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 16:47:08
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I stopped using a software firewall on an old laptop that was struggling to run XP (not much memory) and turned the Windows firewall back on. This helped performance and there have been no security problems.
Im thinking of removing the AV to free up a little more memory and running scans via my LAN from another computer. Can anyone recommend an AV program that will do it ?
Front Room System: Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2, Intel E2180 @2.75Ghz, Seagate 500GB SATA
Kids Computer: IBM Thinkpad T22 Made in Scotland
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486
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 20:58:18
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The only reason for an outgoing firewall is to track software that has been installed on your PC and is phoning home.
If that happens, your inbound firewall has failed, malware is installed, and your machine has already been compromised.
By that time it is usually too late, often even AV software will not completely remove the problem.
That is when a proper IDS system starts complaining.
I run firewall, IDS, AV and proxy on my company's (smoothwall) firewall, between the router and the network.
Windows firewall is disabled on most PCs, but all run AV, and user permissions are restricted.
I check the logs regularly.
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The sig between the asterisks is SO COOL that ONLY REALLY COOL people can even see it!
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Pentium
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Yesterday @ 19:42:21
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| Well I've got to go along with Dave, Jason and even 'the wylie one' on this, the Software Firewall is generally of no use. The best uses are for: - Helping further lock down a system whereby the usual methods cannot fully prevent local users from accessing the network with specific programs or protocols.
rare - Stopping software from calling home.
common
The reason for the latter is that commonly PC users are running pirated software and need the Firewall to prevent them from being found out. Please understand that this is not an accusation that all those using Software Firewalls are breaking the law, however in the last fifteen years of PC repair, I'd say that less than 5% of all machines I've had in contain no illegal software. It is therefore my general opinion that using a hardware firewall and not allowing things on your PC which shouldn't be there is the only option required.
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