Much better to get a cheap hardware firewall - for a single port one to hook into your adsl or cable modem its pretty cheap, and then you just need an anti-virus solution.

This site tests your computer!

http://www.grc.com/

Shields up
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2


Your Internet port 139 does not appear to exist!
One or more ports on this system are operating in FULL STEALTH MODE! Standard Internet behavior requires port connection attempts to be answered with a success or refusal response. Therefore, only an attempt to connect to a nonexistent computer results in no response of either kind. But YOUR computer has DELIBERATELY CHOSEN NOT TO RESPOND (that's very cool!) which represents advanced computer and port stealthing capabilities. A machine configured in this fashion is well hardened to Internet NetBIOS attack and intrusion.
Unable to connect with NetBIOS to your computer.
All attempts to get any information from your computer have FAILED. (This is very uncommon for a Windows networking-based PC.) Relative to vulnerabilities from Windows networking, this computer appears to be VERY SECURE since it is NOT exposing ANY of its internal NetBIOS networking protocol over the Internet.

it appears my system pings back..

not good.

Do some of the other test it will tell you exactly what is open and what is not.

I have the XP update
Linksys router
norton internet security/virus

Im using Kaspersky, no complaints here

Using Kaspersky AV and Sygate Personal Firewall Pro

Unbeatable combo :thumbsup

so far i like this Kaspersky antivirus system...

As for the firewall, ill not get it..

The wireless router I have, along with the microsoft default sp2 firewall will have to do for now....

Untill I hear otherwise its not enough protection..

So far things run way better than before when it was norton........

You still need ZoneAlarm because it is not just a software firewall. It actually lets you set permissions for apps to access the internet. So if you have a spyware app on your system trying to dial out it will stop it and ask you if you want to grant this rogue program access that you otherwise would not have known about. A router/dumb hardware firewall would grant every program from your computer acccess without challenging it.

A router is great till you try to play a network game.

lol ... this is all you need to do. make sure your router does the following.

1. has the firewall enabled.
2. blocks anonymous requests
3. port forwards for the few apps u'll need, if even needed, depending on if you serv from the box or just use client.
4. if you want to be extra cautious, use windows firewall sparingly according to the ports you now forwarded. you'll be fine from most atks. since most script kiddies only nmap without force or probe, and they usually can't get past the filters to begin with.

use Firefox / Opera as your browser, and the if you actually care or just surf without caution get AVG as your anti-virus, dont have it real time scan, just do it yourself or schedule it once a week to scan. Use that with ad-aware's weekly update / scan and your pc will be problem free.

It's fucking amazing how much you notice that Norton hijacked your system after you switch to a good anti virus software. Plus all the html/java exploits Kaspersky catches over what Norton did makes me wonder what kind of people Norton employ to build their software.

I run both and I got to say I am very happy with the combo. I still like Nortons virus scans and zone alarm just keeps everthing safe and sound.

any fully updated anti virus system is fine....most important is to close the backdoors...we spend lot's of $ for a lot of shit, but leaving the back doors open...( who want's to do that..?? )

Get a tech to close the doors Microsoft left open, and you will never have any problems, a good tech that knows what he doing, can fix it in max. 1 hour....money well spend..

I use Kaspersky Anti Virus on all my computers as well. Seriously give it a try, it's the best move you can make for your PC.

i have the netgear double firewall router and run norton becuase i really like the mail spam filter. my computer is secure for the most.

but i do really like the paid version of zone alarm. i think that its a good product

MO, that is a very bad move. I take care of all the Windows boxes here and ZoneAlarm is a crash happy critter. Most people I know hate it. It has problems with Photoshop as well certain mail clients/programs, some versions of Trillian and yadda-yadda.

Kerio's Personal Firewall stomps that proggy. You can find it at ZDnet dot com.

Norton?s AV as well a few other programs have all gone to shit since Peter Norton sold it to Symantec.


For virus and trojan protection, I believe no one program is adequate.

Avast, Spybot (TeaTimer running), Kerio Personal Firewall and every week online scans.