Hi Galen,

> With a firewall - hardware - and Windows firewall you should be doing
> okay. Windows XP SP2 yes? Make sure to have SP2 installed.

Absolutely. This was installed a few months after its release. And I have
her system configured to automatically download and install all Critical
Updates.

Thanks again for the help.

--
Don
Photo Website at:
http://www.dlcphotography.net

[Remove the "lens cap" for email]

Don Cohen wrote:

<snip>

> 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.

--
Rock
MS MVP Windows - Shell/User

In news:ulfu1xaEGHA.3004@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl,
Rock <rock@mail.nospam.net> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

> Don Cohen wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> 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...

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

Don Cohen wrote:
>
> I have run into trouble with my daughter's computer. It is running XP Home,
> and used for online chatting and email primarily. I run NAV 2005 and
> ZoneAlarm Free on it, and check periodically with AdAware and SpyBot S&D.
> It has SP2 installed, and configured to automatically install Critical
> Updates. But it's been a few months since I've been up there to check on
> it.
>
> Yesterday morning she told me it was starting to get messed up
> (non-technical term!). I'm pretty good about trouble-shooting hardware,

25 new viruses are released every single day. Teens who chat and
download files recommended to them by chat buddies are the first ones to
acquire the new bugs.



--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

Version 6.1.737 seems to be stable on my system, for what ever that's
worth.
"Rock" <rock@mail.nospam.net> wrote in message
news:ulfu1xaEGHA.3004@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Don Cohen wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > 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.
>
> --
> Rock
> MS MVP Windows - Shell/User
>

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
Photo Website at:
http://www.dlcphotography.net

[Remove the "lens cap" for email]

> Version 6.1.737 seems to be stable on my system, for what ever that's
> worth.

I have 5.5.094 on mine, with no difficulties. I check ZoneLab's forums
periodically, and there's still a lot of moaning/groaning on any 6.x version
the last I checked, so it still seems to be a crap-shoot at this point.
Works fine for some, causes major problems for others.

I'll probably go with 5.5.094 on hers.

Thanks for the input.

--
Don
Photo Website at:
http://www.dlcphotography.net

[Remove the "lens cap" for email]

Hi Plato

"Plato" <|@|.|> wrote in message
news:43bcb6b7$1$467$bb4e3ad8@newscene.com...
> Don Cohen wrote:
>>
>> I have run into trouble with my daughter's computer. It is running XP
>> Home,
>> and used for online chatting and email primarily. I run NAV 2005 and
>> ZoneAlarm Free on it, and check periodically with AdAware and SpyBot S&D.
>> It has SP2 installed, and configured to automatically install Critical
>> Updates. But it's been a few months since I've been up there to check on
>> it.
>>
>> Yesterday morning she told me it was starting to get messed up
>> (non-technical term!). I'm pretty good about trouble-shooting hardware,
>
> 25 new viruses are released every single day. Teens who chat and
> download files recommended to them by chat buddies are the first ones to
> acquire the new bugs.


True. But I've instilled enough into her that other than MP3's, she knows
enough to not just casually accept files, or other downloads. I'm still
convinced that the User Profile corruption here resulted from her
inadvertently accepting the ZoneAlarmSecuritySuite Trial Upgrade, and its
subsequent expiration. But ultimately, who knows. I'll re-iterate this
with her, however.

--
Don
Photo Website at:
http://www.dlcphotography.net

[Remove the "lens cap" for email]