Okay I have AVG7 and Peer Guardian 2 now, I am also behind a router which I was told workded like a hardware firewall but I think I should put a software firewall up to. Should I? And whats a good firewall? I used Zone Alarm years ago on a 98se machine but it kept bugging me every 5 seconds and wouldn't let me play games even when I told it the site was okay.
the best freeware firewalls are supposed to be sygate personal firewall and kerio personal firewall, but since those products were discontinued a short period ago, you will have to visit: http://www.freewarefiles.com to download them...
dario03 already said he had zone alarm and was looking for another alternative to my understanding...
Personally i dont use a firewall. I dont see the point, If you have all security patches applied nothing can really happpen.
no offence but that is a rather silly thing to do, all of the security hot fixes from microsoft do not protect you in the same way a firewall does, a firewall blocks people from using ports unused by other applications to access your computer... you should at least have a simple freeware firewall installed... also a firewall blocks spyware processes from accessing the internet...
dario03 lots of virse scan programs come with very good firewalls "Trend Mirco" being one of them which i use WITH VERY GOOD SUCCESS
well, if you know your computer well enough, i find you dont need a firewall or virus scanner, common sense and a little knowhow are all ya need. also how are people meant to access ports that you do not have services running on :s lol ACK : NACK
more fool you, no ones ever that vigilant in assuming that there pc is 100% safe from viruses and hackers etc.(windows operating system)unless of course you have a mac A firewall is a good resource but in some cases like on p2p sites its a real pain in the neck.Netgear firewall and router is one of those pains but nortons internet security etc is a good substitute that will allow you still to get a high ID
I find people who think they don't need firewalls and virus scanners are usually the people spreading viruses and spam to everyone else because they are loaded with Trojans and every bit of scumware around and your computer is being used as a bot. Obviously you have no idea how to open ports and write rules to your firewall to allow traffic either.
the easiest way to prove htis to you rundata is for you to carry out an online security test and post your results, how well you are protected, of course you could post false results but we are sugggesting toward your best interests just trying to help...
Since you seemed to know enough about the things going on online, i expected you'd know that every script kiddie online will be able to use your pc as a zombie drone if you don't use a proper firewall... and to think i thought you where at least kind of "streetsmart" If you really believe you can survive without a firewall, you must be retarded, or really arrogant.
I took an unused computer and created a dedicated firewall appliance using Smoothwall: http://smoothwall.org/ All it needs, really, are a couple NICs, a Pentium-class processor or higher, a little RAM and a gig and a half of hard drive. YOu can get all that for less than $50 if you don't already have it in the garage. Hardware firewalls are better because they don't rob your computer of resources while you are working, and they generally give you more flexibility in configuration. They are for the most part fire-up and forget, though it's a good idea to monitor what is going in and out of your computer/network.
I have used Zone Alarm Professional I think its the best as it asks you the user if its ok to pass its never had problems with me maybe cuz your using 98SE horrible operating system non the less I use windows corporate and XP and 2000