Jason's Column #1000

Unfortunately I have a wife and 6 year-old son with stubborn streaks who aren't quite as fastidious with the family PC as I would like them to be.

I am aware that a lot of malware makes use of generic services (such as svchost32.dll) to access the internet, but I hope that AVG, Spybot and ZA that I use at home tries to sort it out. Oh, and I too don't install cracked, hacked or pirated software (having little patience for games helps there) - the software I don't pay for is freeware and I always pay for shareware once the nag screens come up. Of course, being married to a Yorkshire lass means that I'm often investigating new freeware/bargainware (old versions of commercial software), but I try to at least Google about it first to see if there are any well known exploits . . .

Never tried Jetico's product, but we use ISA 2000/2003/2007 at our schools, so I think I have an inkling of what you're talking about.

Lastly, I knew I'd regret the "pessimist" crack. I apologise, I tacked it on at the end of the post because most of the replies to my original post seemed to be along the lines of "software firewalls are a waste of time - when you're infected you have to do a complete system rebuild". Please correct me if I misunderstood - maybe fatalistic was a better word?.

CaptainCAD (30/04/2008)

Responsible PC users do not get this influx of malware onto their machines in the first instance. I have not installed any anti-virus, firewall, or anti-malware product onto my OS's for years now, and I'm as certain as any software product could inform me that they're clean.

I never install software, without fully testing it first, I do not download software, browser addons, toolbars, music or video etc. except in a controlled environment and I do not visit sites which are often responsible for dropping their payload onto peoples PCs. I also don't use instant messaging or play games on my PC therefore I don't have a slew of constantly open ports.

Also I hope you realise that much software will actually still contact home through another allowed service, usually svchost, and bypass your Firewall anyhow.

If you really have got the time, money and patience to see exactly this type of behaviour, try using Jetico Personal Firewall v.2, it's one of the best Firewalls you'll ever use. It'll also make you see how much work, and resources these programs need in order to effectively `protect` you. You'll also probably not use it for very long due too… but you'll see why for yourself.

Incidentally, it's you who's being pessimistic, you believe that your'e infected and your software's out to get you. I, on the other hand, am optimistic that my approach is tried tested and worry free and my PC as a result is more responsive too!