Hello
I ran the tests at Gibson Labs and all was good. I then ran the firewall test which is separate and the leak got through saying I had no firewall.
I have the firewall at default right now because I cnnot understand settings.
I have avoided other firewalls as I read there are compatibility issues with third party ones.
Are there any suggestions that would make the firewall more secure?
Thank you
Peter, you have provided no information about your current setup which is very important.
Are you sharing your internet connection with multiple computers in the house? That is typical nowadays. Did you know that under these conditions it is impossible for anybody on the internet to "touch" your computers without you specifically going in and reprogramming your router to allow it? The ShieldsUp test can't scan anything but your router. It can't touch your computer.
An outbound firewall test is worthless. Any software on your computer attempting to establish an outbound connection has already bypassed your anti-virus and any other security you may have installed and at that point it makes no difference if it is allowed to connect to the internet or not. You're already infected. So, who cares if something you downloaded to "test" your security is able to access the internet. Surprise, you already downloaded and installed the software, so you're screwed either way - if its malicious.
The information you want; Windows Home Premium x 64, i5, 1T, 3.30 GHz, router Windows 7 firewall that comes with the os.
I cannot think of anything else so let me know. I used to have the free Norton suite which thought for you but it had it issues like tamper protecton stopping system restoe from working etc.
I was told to drop it for MSE which I did.
What test did you run that failed? I use WF and just ran Shields up with no problems noted. LeakTest gets through, but that does not mean there is a problem. It means Windows Firewall knows that Steve Gibson's LeakTest is not bad.
What test did you run that failed? I use WF and just ran Shields up with no problems noted. LeakTest gets through, but that does not mean there is a problem. It means Windows Firewall knows that Steve Gibson's LeakTest is not bad.
>>I ran the tests for commom ports, all ports, file sharing etc and all passed.
I misunderstood the meaning of the leak getting through. Thank you for clarifying that.
Is there any adjustment one should make to the Win 7 firewall other than the default setting?
Thank you
That's not to say you can now go out and haphazardly surf the net or go "click-happy" on unsolicited links and downloads. You still must provide due diligence by "practicing safe computing". That is, you must still keep your computer (OS and security programs) patched and updated, you still must use a real-time anti-malware solution, and you still must avoid risky behavior like participating in illegal filesharing via torrents or P2P sites.
If you (the user) let the badguy in, all the security in the world will be of little help.
Bottom line: The user is still, and always will be, the weakest link.
I made a mistakke by misunderstanding the leak test result and wil not to use that site again.
I use a router(securely set) have an av program with MBAM, only write emails and do informative surfing.
My wife and I are in our 70s and are use of the pc is extremely conservative.
Our pc is always kept uupdated and backed up.
I think we are doing the right thing and this was a result of my using a site I should not have and misreading the results.
A few years ago I poked around to try to learn about the pc but have stopped lately b/c it is leading to problems.
Boredom led to excessive looking around. I don't think I can get in trouble with the tv.
Thank you all for your patience.
Hi Peter1. Then you should have nothing to worry about.
The biggest cause for concern would be you. No seriously, your computer is secure from "internet based" attacks. The problem is when an end user, any user, is led astray or victimized by malicious websites, software and e-mails. That's how you get infected. As most homes use routers to share their internet connection with multiple computers, it is a false belief that your computers can "get infected" just sitting there. They can't.
However, some people still use a single computer, plugged directly into a broadband (usually cable) connection that gives them a direct and "open" connection to the internet then continue to use insecure and obsolete software which opens them up to internet based attacks such as worms. That risk is still real, just not very prevalent anymore in homes.
No seriously, your computer is secure from "internet based" attacks. The problem is when an end user, any user, is led astray or victimized by malicious websites, software and e-mails. That's how you get infected. As most homes use routers to share their internet connection with multiple computers, it is a false belief that your computers can "get infected" just sitting there. They can't.
However, some people still use a single computer, plugged directly into a broadband (usually cable) connection that gives them a direct and "open" connection to the internet then continue to use insecure and obsolete software which opens them up to internet based attacks such as worms. That risk is still real, just not very prevalent anymore in homes.