ellen
Thu Aug 21 16:04:16 CDT 2003
>-----Original Message-----
>In today's NY Times there was a full page ad placed by
Microsoft
>suggesting that PCs should have both an antivirus scanner
AND a
>firewall. Apparently XP comes with a built in firewall -
but I'm
>running Me. This is my home PC with no network;
connection to the ISP
>is dialup.
>
>I had been running Norton AV until recently but it was
creating
>problems: whenever the PC crashed and had to be
restarted, Norton
>would initiate an undesired dial-up. I discovered that
uninstalling
>NAV and then reinstalling it would fix this problem.
Only thing is
>NAV would need a live update that, with a dialup
connection, would
>take about an hour or so. I finally uninstalled NAV and
replaced it
>with the free AVG version 6.0 and that fixed the
problem. I hope it's
>protecting against viruses as well as it should.
>
>So here my questions:
>
>1. Is there a free version of a firewall that works
trouble free
>with WMe?
>
>2. Why is it necessary to have both a firewall and AV?
Here is the definition of a firewall (I got it off the
net - I didn't write it)
A personal firewall (sometimes called a desktop firewall)
is a software application used to protect a single
Internet-connected computer from intruders. Personal
firewall protection is especially useful for users
with "always-on" connections such as DSL or cable modem.
Such connections use a static IP address that makes them
especially vulnerable to potential hackers. Often compared
to anti-virus applications, personal firewalls work in the
background at the device (link layer) level to protect the
integrity of the system from malicious computer code by
controlling Internet connections to and from a user's
computer, filtering inbound and outbound traffic, and
alerting the user to attempted intrusions.
Zonealarm offers a free firewall. Here is their address:
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/zap_za_grid.j
sp (You may have to copy and paste in two steps to get
both lines of the address in your browser address window.)
I personally use Norton but I know many people who use the
free AVG antivirus program and are pleased with it.
>.
>