sortof OT firewalls

[bscott at ntisys.com]

On Sun, 8 Dec 2002, at 10:46pm, tom at rauschenbach.mv.com wrote:
> I've met some who is a windows user with a cable modem.  Can anyone
> recommend any defensive software she can use ?  Open source is obviously
> preffered,

  As others have mentioned, the first thing to do is pick up one of those
$90 "home routers" that give you NAT and an elementary firewall.  My
personal favorite is the LinkSys BEFSR series; NetGear, D-Link, and SMC all
make good products as well.  They lack the power of a "real" firewall (like
a Linux or *BSD powered solution), but they are considerably better than
nothing, and are very low-maintenance.

  For the PC itself, you can consider ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com).  
It is pretty much the only "personal firewall" software available for
MS-Windows that is worth a damn.  However, as with many Windows programs
that operate at the kernel level, it can also royally hose your system.  Be
sure to take all the usual precautionary steps (backup the registry, create
an ERD, create an SFP checkpoint) before installing it.

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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