Page 1 of Firewalls: Do we REALLY need them?

I have been using the net for ages and have no firewall in operation. Never had a virus and always cleaned the spyware out. I just reinstalled windows and am currently putting norton internet security 2004 on it but something tells me I`d probably be better to save the disk space and leave it. What do you think? I just want to download bittorrent stuff fast.

Give 1 reason not to put a firewall on? Diskspace? You`re having a laugh. Having a firewall (correctly set up) won`t affect BT speeds in anyway. Do you do any form of online banking? Are there any things on your PC you`d rather others didn`t see? If everyone had firewalls, the Sasser virus wouldn`t have had any effect. Instead millions of people had problems and came on forums like this asking how to get rid of it. That`s reason enough.

Ste

Quote:
but something tells me I`d probably be better to save the disk space and leave it
if you disk space is at that much of a premium, download ZA or Sygate (both clock in
at around 5Mb) and maybe AVG antivirus (another 6Mb).
these aren`t "bloatware" as per Norton etc....i`ve been using AVG & ZA for quite a while
now and have`nt had any problems with either.

as for using the internet without a firewall and not getting caught, then i think you`ve been
extremely lucky or very naive......

most firewall software will "stealth" you from outside intruders, i bet if you were to install
a firewall then check the log files, you`ll see loads of attempted hacks.
(just checked mine and it has blocked 11 attempted entries)

use one of the freebies.....better safe than sorry

Ste.

...is that gasoline I smell?

i still get around 2500 hits an hour, thats a very good reason for me to use a firewall, also, most attacks (i`m not counting kazza port scans etc) don`t plant virus`s (viri ?) they traul for info, credit card numbers, key loggers, ebay login, paypal login etc etc. tbh if you never have any prob, you`ve been lucky, but be to surprised if you hear the police kick you`re door down asking why you`re ip addy has been linked to crime/pedophilia (sp) because someone been routing there traffic through you`re pc. just my opinion of course :D

A check of my friends PC (regular e-bayer) in Michigan (cable BB) on the last vist out there, I found over 13 virus`s, more trojans & spybots that took about a hour to clean sweep. :o

Closed open ports on their PC. :o

Sygate, Adaware & AVG installed before I left & machine totally stealthed against probes & attacks. :D

Still think having no firewall is a good idea?



There are 10 types of people in the world - Those who understand binary and those who don`t.

This item was edited on Sunday, 10th October 2004, 14:08

If you`re only on 56k then you could get away with it - you`ll be too slow for any hacker to bother with.

On broadband, it`s madness not to have one.

Go to Shields Up! and do their test without a firewall and then read his info pages. Intsall and configure a firewall and re-do the test...you`re, honestly, daft not to have one (if you`re on BB).

Nick

So, i now have sygate! It has a list of progs that can access the net so, as a general thing, what should be allowed to access the net as standard? I have 6 progs going.

Zone alarm, AVG.....I THANK YOU BOTH. :) :)

Got hit with a dialer virus and phone bill to match, installed both after that. :) :)


And dont forget some kinda pop up stopper........ :)

This item was edited on Monday, 11th October 2004, 10:16

Windows XP service pack 2`s firewall is a right pain in the arris.
Slowed my e-mails right down so that they were coming in big blocks,instead of one at a time,and actually stopped some coming through altogether.I was accusing people of not replying when,in fact,it was the firewall I didn`t bleedin ask for... >:(
Solution is as follows

Control panel > security centre > windows firewall > exceptions > add programme ( add outlook ) > ok.

End of problem. :D