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Thread ID: 19717	2002-05-21 22:03:00	Is a firewall necessary on a dial-up	Guest (0)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
50043	2002-05-22 07:32:00	Fire walls are a complete waste of time! Or so I thought I?ve never used one till about 2-3 months ago when I tried Kazaa. I had two trojens sent to me over three nights and the firewall picked them up. Also I play allot of games on line and use Roger Wilco so I can talk to a mate while we play. While playing he lost his connection and he fell from being the server of Roger Wilco. Next thing I know the firewall is bleeping at me saying it has caught a incoming Trojan from IP No. 210.55.32.35,1042. Now when I looked at Roger Wilco it had that ip addy in the box for the host. A bit odd I thought because it wasn?t the ip of the guy that was hosting it. (hes got a static ip addy). Now I?m on a dial up and have never seen the need to have one but I?m glad I have got one now.	Guest (0)
50044	2002-05-22 07:36:00	Fire walls are a complete waste of time! Or so I thought I?ve never used one till about 2-3 months ago when I tried Kazaa. I had two trojens sent to me over three nights and the firewall picked them up. Also I play allot of games on line and use Roger Wilco so I can talk to a mate while we play. While playing he lost his connection and he fell from being the server of Roger Wilco. Next thing I know the firewall is bleeping at me saying it has caught a incoming Trojan from IP No. 210.55.32.35,1042. Now when I looked at Roger Wilco it had that ip addy in the box for the host. A bit odd I thought because it wasn?t the ip of the guy that was hosting it. (hes got a static ip addy). Now I?m on a dial up and have never seen the need to have one but I?m glad I have got one now.	Guest (0)
50045	2002-05-22 12:19:00	Hi Peter, Your probably getting sick of reading, so I will keep this short. I dont think it matters wether your using dialup or broadband. They ping you all the time, at random mostly, looking for open ports. My advice: If your not pushed for hard drive space, get a free version of Zone Alarm, instal it, watch what happens for a short while and then make up your own mind. I think you will be surprised by how much activity is going on without you knowing. Cheers.	Guest (0)
50046	2002-05-23 06:04:00	My (unprofesssional) advice would be yes, if you're online at all, get and use a firewall. You may be right that at very low levels of online time, the risks are so small that they don't justify the trouble of a firewall. No idea what qualifies as 'very low time' - my attitude is that the consequences of something going wrong are pretty serious (to yourself and other people) so why take a risk? If you only drive a car occassionally, your chances of getting killed in a road accident are a lot less than someone clocking 100,000 km a year. Does this mean you won't bother wearing a seat belt? My limited understanding is that the risks from external intrusions come from scanners - automated programmes which scan the internet looking for open ports. The hacker isn't after you personally. Not sure how these are followed up, but if they find an open port on your machine, they won't send a message back saying 'this guy is on dial-up, his connection is slow and his IP address may change by the time you try again, so don't bother with him.' They'll try to get in through your open port(s). I'm on dial-up although often am online for long periods (eg overnight downloading)(yes, I know I should be on broadband). Getting a dozen or more 'Intrusion detected' notices a night isn't unusual. Last night there were only half that but two were aimed at BIOS ports - serious stuff. Even if most intrusions are accidental and benign, why take a chance on the one that isn't? A firewall also gives you control over what goes out - useful for controlling apps with a life of their own (eg RealPlayer which is alsways trying to dial home). It might give you a warning if something nasty has got into your machine and wants to replicate or post your credit card details (though stand to be corrected on this). Light use implies a freebie firewall like Zonealarm (which I use)- try Steve Gibson's site www.grc.com for more info and reviews. Point taken that you need to set it up properly - otherwise you might have no protection and a false sense of security. You might need to look at your general setup if you're worried about resource use. (btw - I'm not interested in software for its own sake either - I've got a PC for what I can do with it not to it.)	Guest (0)
50047	2002-05-26 01:15:00	Yep.	Guest (0)
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