Rock & Galen,
>>> One follow-up question: a few months ago I installed a Wireless
>>> Router (LinkSys WR54G), having previously used a hub/switch, and so
>>> now have a hardware firewall in place. I'm inclined to not
>>> reinstall ZoneAlarm Free, certainly not Ver.6.x which has quite a
>>> few problems according to multiple posts at ZoneLab's forums. Am I
>>> putting this system at risk without a software firewall? Or should
>>> I just enable Windows Firewall?
>>
>> That router is not a hardware firewall. It is a NAT router with some
>> firewall capabilities. It still doesn't block out bound traffic. It
>> is a good idea to still run a software firewall that monitors outbound
>> traffic. The XP SP2 firewall does not, it only monitors inbound as
>> does the router.
>
> In conjunction the two tend to do okay on a known clean system. Of course
> a known clean system is largely a myth in real-world experiences. <g> Bit
> of a Catch-22 there. So, some entertainment...
>
> From the .doc (Changes to Functionality in MS Windows XP SP2) from the
> downloads site...
>
> "Action required
> None. Windows Firewall will automatically allow all outbound connections,
> regardless of the program and the user context."
>
> I'm not so sure I meant to laugh as hard as I did when I read that. I'm
> pretty sure that it wasn't meant as a joke. I'm still shaking my head (MVP
> or not) at the idea behind that one, the wording makes it seem as if
> that's a feature. Ah well...
Yeah, I forgot about the outbound traffic issue; good point. I have ZA Free
5.5.094 running on my system, and it doesn't seem to present any problems.
Guess I'll go ahead and install that on hers. It is somewhat ironic since
I'm still inclined to believe that it was the inadvertent trial upgrade she
made to ZASecurity Suite, and it's subsequent expiration, that led to the
User Profile corruption in the first place. She thought she was doing the
right thing here (despite my telling her to never install anything without
checking with me first!), but as they say, 'the road to hell is paved with
good intentions.'
Thanks for the input.
--
Don
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http://www.dlcphotography.net
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