ArabiaTerra Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 My computer caught something nasty last night. AVG seemed to catch it, flashed up the warning and moved it to the virus vault etc, so I thought no more about it. I just got away from the site and carried on. A couple of minutes later I noticed the shield icon with the red cross in it in my system tray. I clicked on it and discovered the damn thing had knocked out the windows firewall. I ran the usual scans, Spybot and AVG and they picked up a bunch of nasties and apparently repaired everything so I shut down and went to bed. This morning the 'puter wouldn't boot. File "lsass.exe" missing so I had to boot into safe mode and restore last good configuration. Anyway, the Windows firewall is no longer secure, so if you're still depending on that as your principle security shield, it's probably time to upgrade. P.S I'm running Windoze XP SP3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairislefaerie Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 I've never used windows firwall, its well known to be one of the most insecure. I have kapersky firewall & AV (used to have AVG 8 but changed after a month of it constantly letting a keylogger trojan in) , use highjack this three times a week to check. Superantispyware pro installed & opperative, spyware doctor in times of need & various other scanners as no single one finds everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooks Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Try having a look at Comodo. I haven't tried it since they started bundling the Antivirus with it but it was a very capable firewall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArabiaTerra Posted April 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Cheers guys, I've decided to give Comodo a try. And BTW, Pooks, when you install it you can choose not to install the Anti-virus part of the package, just the firewall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Use a router and keep it's firmware up to date. The built in firewall should stop 99% of the stuff from ever reaching your PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JordanKZ Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Use a router and keep it's firmware up to date. The built in firewall should stop 99% of the stuff from ever reaching your PC. Agreed. If you have a router thats kept up to date, you usually have very little need for a software firewall also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackEagle Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 I scan with Threatfire on a regular basis, and keep Winpatrol active. It pops up with a warning if there is a change to the registry or startup programmes. These and many other freeware, shareware, and trial security software are available from the downloads section of the PCWorld magazine website, http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/1443/topic.html?&page=1&order=4. Hope you get everything cleared up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifi Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 I'd heard you could rely on a router alone, but as being a fairly recent convert to a Netgear router, I've been a bit wary of binning Zonealarm. Mebbe now I'll take the plunge. How often should you update the firmware? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roachmill Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 If you've got more than one Windows PC connected to your router you should most definitely use a software firewall on each machine - to stop any infections spreading from one PC to another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewenutz Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Weel theres 4 computers on my network, I have a netgear router we a firewall, plus I have a 4 computer license we kaspersky internet security 2009. I wid imagine windows firewall runs on all machines asweel as I have never turned it aff. Although da firewall on me router seems very secure I prefer to have software firewalls running too for peace of mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastditch Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 I've never used windows firwall, its well known to be one of the most insecure. I have kapersky firewall & AV (used to have AVG 8 but changed after a month of it constantly letting a keylogger trojan in) , use highjack this three times a week to check. Superantispyware pro installed & opperative, spyware doctor in times of need & various other scanners as no single one finds everything. Got your fingers crossed as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 I'd heard you could rely on a router alone, but as being a fairly recent convert to a Netgear router, I've been a bit wary of binning Zonealarm. Mebbe now I'll take the plunge. How often should you update the firmware? I binned Zonealarm a long time ago. As for "how often should you update", depends on how often updates are released. I update mine every couple of months or so. As far as I can see, it's OK to leave the Windows Firewall on as well but, I would caution against having to many extras monitoring your PC(s) continually. The performance hit could be quite severe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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