Bill Turner wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Oct 2002 14:22:38 -0700 (PDT), Wayne wrote:
> > I just installed a Firewall from McAfee a few weeks ago, and I can't
> >believe the number of Hackers or whatever that are trying to get into
> >my computer....
> >Wayne from Maine, KC1YF
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> About the same experience here. I decided to block all of them
> and see what didn't work. So far, everything works.
>
> Bill, W7TI
I believe the key statement in Wayne's report is "Hackers or
whatever". I seriously doubt there are any malicious hackers involved,
but from my experience with Zone Alarm Pro, there are multitudes of
"whatevers".
And the largest "whatever" by far is AOL. Since I use Netscape, in my
experience, they were the second place finishers with others
scattered. All were from generally respected companies, although I
firmly endorse the idea that none of them have any business doing so.
Netscape has an option to block "cookies", which is mainly what these
intrusions are trying to acquire. I keep them in the "Block all"
setting, and if I happen upon a URL which requires them, I pass.
However, I converted to DSL service a couple of months ago, and
quickly realized that just my Norton Anti Virus wasn't enough, so on
to the Norton Firewall. Norton Systemworks 2002 has a feature which
allows you to check your security with a Norton page, and even that
site was unable to penetrate. In fact, one portion of the report said
some tests couldn't be completed because I had to have Explorer 4.0 or
higher on the machine.
Well, I have Explorer 6.0 installed and functual, although blocked.
What really surprised me, while installing the firewall, was seeing
the number of programs on this machine which have internet access
without a firewall. Adobe Acrobat, Office 97, Windows Media Player,
various Windows programs and such were in a group of 41 total. Now I
would thoroughly trust any of those companies, but I don't see the
necessity to allow uncontrolled access to any of them. So, as Bill
pointed out, the best idea may be to block them all.
Might have to unblock Explorer the next time I run the check though.
):>
73
Ed
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