win98 firewall

Hi,

I'm new to the subject of firewalls. Can anybody recommend a user-friendly firewall for a win98 home pc that I won't need a rocket-science degree to use?

tia

mori

"moriman" wrote in message news:KkFYd.519$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...

Most likely it doesn't need a firewall at all. But you should run some tests to see what other people on the Internet can see. Use some of these

of them may attempt to sell you products based on the results of the scan but there is no need to purchase anything. Assuming that the above tools don't find anything wrong (such as file sharing available to anyone) then you should forget about firewalls and pay attention to virus scanners and other tools and other methods of keeping the PC secure. All of the following are point and click and don't require any rocket science. What virus scanner do you have installed on that PC? When did you last visit Windows Update and does the PC have all critical updates? you using the world's most insecure web browser (Internet Explorer)? If so then consider switching to another browser such as Internet Explorer only for Windows Update. I would also recommend installing the following and making sure that they are up to date. Make sure that a full check for problems is done regularly and that they are updated regularly. consider these a Windows 98 PC on a cable modem, firewall software is the last thing you should worry about. Most people who install firewall software on a Windows 98 PC do so for the wrong reasons and end up getting into a complete mess because they don't know enough rocket science to answer the stupid popups produced by the worthless firewall software.

Jason

Hi Mori. I have been running Sygate on Win98 for about four years. It had done an excellent job and has been trouble free. When I installed Sygate, I knew nothing about firewalls. Try it. You might find that it fits your needs. Here is a little help on Sygate:

Unofficial Help:

Sygate Forums: Users Guide and Quick Start Guide: Compare SPF Pro and SPF Free (See what's inside each one) d/l Casey

user-friendly

Norton AV 2004 Pro

Last week

Yup lol

Thanks Jason, I'll follow the rest of the above and see what happens ;-)

mori

Trust Mr. Know-it-all to show up.

I've been hacked on Win98. You are full of shit. End of story.

I suppose you think Dos was super secure then?

Oh, yes, it actually is. Windows 98 does not have a huge collection of network services running by default. If you turn off file-sharing on Windows 98, in general you find that Windows 98 is not listening to any network ports. If no one is listening on any port there is obviously nothing to connect to. "netstat -a" should reveal much although the implementation on Windows 98 of netstat is buggy and not necessarily does give you correct information. I am not sure whether other programs like TCPView give a more accurate look. A internet security scanner certainly should give you better information.

Even with an Windows XP it is possible under certain constraints to lock down the system so much that all network services are either shut down or only listening to the local loopback interface which is only accessible from the computer itself. That way the computer can run connected to the internet for months without being at danger.

Gerald

I wasn't running any network services or printer and file sharing on Win98. Any OS can be hacked and that is why you should run a firewall on any OS. Linux dudes would laugh their ass off at you.

Anyone who uses their real name on the internet is real dumb.

p.s. and the reason I got hacked was because I wasn't using a firewall and the stupid ISP I was using at the time posted my machines IP address in the headers on usenet. Using some anonymity on usenet is the smart mans way - you dorked out geek.

Usual comment made by those that lack a reasonable argument.

Your arguments are weak. Anyone who says you don't need a firewall on Win98 is negligent and shouldn't be posting here.

Zonealarm free (latest version works quite well with low spec machines)or sygate are probably the simplest to use.Obviously take the time to read newsgroups and security sites to learn more about them .I guess ,since youve posted on a firewall group , then your savvy enough to learn to use your firewall (though many here would disagree with that concept :)) me

I explained to you how. My machines IP was exposed through usenet thanks to a stupid ISP I had way back. All Network protocols were removed except TCP/IP for dialup internet access. Sorry for ranting at you earlier. Read my post lower down about why you need a firewall still with Win98. Lots of info on the web through security sites as to why. If you still disagree then you can take it up with CERT and Microsoft.

I think you underestimate what hackers can't do.

Read the OP and my answer. A DOS was super secure in the context of the question as it does not have any network servers running. So yes for the third one. Nobody said that you cannot be hacked on Windows 98. On any machine you can get hacked if you run services listening to the internet. If you have file sharing enabled you have a problem. It is quite simple to shut file sharing down in case it is enabled and despite of that there are no other services listening unless you install them (like the web server) AFAIK.

But I know your anonymity behind your fake name and email address lets you just insult other people whatever way you like, coward, and makes you think you don't need proper reasons and arguments for the your statements.

Gerald

Echy wrote in news:4234ac18$0$5186$ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au:

Zone Alarm installs have frequently been buggy. It's the firewall that AOL, WebTV, and Outlook Express users recommend. For that reason, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. Besides all that, you have no port control in ZA.

Sygate.

Well, it seems you have problems getting all your thoughts into on post. Anyway, you still don't give the details how you got hacked. You just claim it was because you were not running a firewall, but no evidence whatsoever. How do you know that you were not running any network services. Many people think that when they use a standard installation of Windows and are surprised to see what is actually going on. Did you look and check that is was removed? Or did you just install Windows 98 in the beginning and saw file sharing, installed it, too, and forgot about it?

So, in all or three posts still no argument or evidence proving or just only indicating that you were running a Windows 98 machine without activated file sharing and no other network services. So once more, noone can just hack a machine from the internet regardless of the operating system if the system does not has any network services running that are listening. With nothing listening any connection request and any packet send to that IP address will just be dumped by the IP stack. IP stack vulnerablities (which are the only possible attack points for intrusion here) have existed but are rare to my knowledge compared to other service vulnerablities as the stack obiviously is one of the core components and therefore fairly well tested.

If you don't have anything listening to the network then it requires user action on the computer to get infected in any way.

Gerald

I find ZoneAlarm to be good & not too intrusive. It's free and updated from time to time.

Details and download here:-

Ever setup a honey pot and see what they get up to? I did once for kicks and pretty much every day someone would attempt to login to my machine, even though it was a fake login screen sending back fake messages to them. Haha.

Well, I know it happened and it was on Win98 (or maybe it was Win95 now that I think about it) and I was not running a firewall and it was just dialup too. Now I run XP and WinME and I always firewall both. Sometimes I run Linux and I firewall that with Shorewall. Plus there is the routers firewall too. I just think it's prudent to firewall any PC running any OS that's connected to the internet.