Windows--98, 2000, ME, XP???

[TerryinMD]

Re: Windows-98, 2000, ME, XP? - Personal Firewalls

Is Zone Alarm for enterprise or personal usage?

A few of the remarks seem to be coming from a enterprise support viewpoint, not a home computing view. Apples and oranges (to an extent). I consider myself somewhere in the middle of understanding Windows and all of its nuances. Worked in computing and have a good understanding of how things work, but not MSCE or having any certifications. So, some of the stuff presented is/can be daunting to some of the folks.

I have a small home network but it is not attached to the outside world other than a dialup modem. Or is it.... (I hear the theme from the Twilight Zone in the background)

Terry

 

[MikePA]

Re: Windows-98, 2000, ME, XP? - Personal Firewalls

Personal. I did use Black Ice Defender (another personal firewall) when I used a modem to connect to the Internet.

When I got DSL, I switched to Zone Alarm. Too many problems with Black Ice Defender. As others have stated, you would be surprised how many people out on the Internet go poking around seeing which systems they can hack into.

You might also be surprised what software on your PC talks to the Internet without telling you. ZoneAlarm will catch this and ask you if it should allow this, either on a permanent or a one time basis.

If you want an eye opener, go to http://www.grc.com, click on ShieldsUp and let it test your shields and probe your ports.

 

[ejb]

Re: Windows-98, 2000, ME, XP? - Personal Firewalls

Zone ALram is an awesome program, and best of all free. I have a full-blown hardware based firewall at my house (watchguard firebox II) because I work at home, but I keep a copy of zonealarm running on one of my machines (I have about a 12 node network in my cellar!) just in case someone/something doesgets thru the "real" firewall I will know about it. (So far not a single ping has made it thru). I have tested the zonealarm a few times without the WG firewall running, and it does a great job.

Try it, you'll like it, and it is free!

For personal firewalls I would defintely recommend Zonealarm. If anyone needs an entrprise firewall, watchguard does an awesome job.

 

[TerryinMD]

Re: Windows-98, 2000, ME, XP? - Personal Firewalls

Whoa - A twelve node network!! And you have time to play, err, do work around the house on your tractor!!

Terry

 

[TerryinMD]

Re: Windows-98, 2000, ME, XP? - Personal Firewalls

Mike and ejb,

You mention Zone Alarm but forgot to say where you got it. If it's free, I want it. I used McAfees bundled version last year and turned it off. Made the machine inoperable. Guess that's why they give it away.

I went to the ShieldsUp Web site. Ran the utility. I have never had a Web site laugh at me. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif No real vulnureabilities (sp?) Just the typical default W2k/WXP port problems. No sharing yet.

Thank you for the tip. The Twilight Zone theme stopped playing. Whew!!!

Terry

 

[huckflynn]

My philosophy with laptops -- get the latest and greatest at the time of purchase. The internals of laptops are so proprietary that laptop vendors typically do not support upgrades to later versions of operating systems (unless you are buying around the time of a new release of an os and they give you a "free upgrade" as a part of the original purchase.)

That would put you in an XP flavor. I've played with XP professional at length and have not had any problems with it -- and I like the idea of having the same OS for home or business.

Right now I dual boot between Windows 2000 which is what I work in everyday for stability reasons and Win98 which has more dvd and game support -- very important when my grandson comes over.

XP should eventually eliminate the need for dual booting (although, on one machine I am now choosing between 1 of 3 os's for various software support)

 

[ejb]

Re: Windows-98, 2000, ME, XP? - Personal Firewalls

When all else fails...try http://www.zonealarm.com/

Yes, the 12 node net in my basement keeps me busy, but one the upside I don't have to run the furnace in the winter/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[glennmac]

For those who would like to read an article on the evolutionary history and future of Windows, here is one that is beyond me: http://www.archivebuilders.com/whitepapers/22001h.html

 

[Buck]

I'm running XP Professional (release candidate 2). I installed this over Windows 2000 Professional. XP requires more memory than 2000. The ability to process digital pictures from cameras, write CD's etc. is far better in XP. I like XP better than 2000, but not by a mile. However, if I were buying the laptop I'd buy XP.

Buck

 

[JayC]

Hi. I run Windows ME and am quite satisfied with it. I would recommend it. Windows XP is quite hardware intensive and requires a good amount of the machine's resources. So, if you get a new laptop with XP make real sure it has the required amount of resources. I would say nothing less than 128MB RAM and 900MhZ-1.2Ghz. I looked into XP quite thoughly and was thinking about upgrading when I saw the requirements. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif So, in all I would recommend ME, but if you want XP wait a while longer and make real sure the machine can handle it. I can't stress that enough. You don't want to spend $1500-2000 and end up with an ill-equiped machine. XP, I understand, is also supposed to be more stylish. I saw a couple screenshots and it does look better. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Hope this helps.