Help - How Do I Protect From Intrusions?

I've not seen this website you're referring to but it's intentionally misleading, probably spreading FUD to sell a product. It is true that an IP address can be used to track your activities but that doesn't mean someone will be monitoring everything you do. It means easynews will be able to cancel your acct if you start spamming newsgroups, or your ISP can ask you to knock off any activities that violate their acceptable use policies.

A D-Link firewall is sufficient for home Internet use. Since you're using Forte newsreader, you're probably not using vulnerable Microsoft applications like Outlook, Outlook Express, or Internet Explorer. You might try one of the several free or commercial personal firewall apps if you're still concerned.

-Gary

Howdy,

I experimented with that site, and downloaded and installed nothing. Of course, I have no way to know what it is actually testing, but your comments above were not true in my experience...

All the best,

This site requires you to download and install an application on your computer in order to run the test(s). Of course they can tell you what your Nat'd IP address is, they are inside the firewall performing their tests.

Yeah, it lets you enter port ranges but then shows you only a summary of the results, no details. I'd recommend using grc.com's ShieldsUP instead.

-Gary

snipped-for-privacy@for.me wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Yes you can ping the public IP that was issued by the ISP for your account that sits on the public side of the NAT router. No machine on the private side of the router can be pinged from the public Internet so the machines behind the router are not going to respond to the ping.

So what it is BS? If you're using IE, then switch to FireFox (free). And besides, the browser can be queried for the information. The IP must be known for any traffic to reach your modemn and the router behind the modem.

You can ignore it because not a damn thing is going to happen to you, because you got that router sitting there. Or you can run out and buy and install a bunch of worthless crap trying to protect an IP.

Duane :)