firewall

Hello I failed the Gibson leak test with Win 7 native firewall. I guess I am not too clever when it comes to configuring firewalls. I have tried to set it up but seem to be falling short. Gibson recommended ZA's firewall so I took a look at it. Would anyone here please comment so I can look before I leap? Thank you

if you are using an admin-account, W7 firewall will fail the Gibson LeakTest as will most other firewalls. You should use a normal user-account instead and only run as admin. when installing new software or doing system maintenance.

My VIPRE anti-virus/firewall combo also fails the LeakTest when in admin. mode.

In order to to properly use the LeakTest when running it, you should be answering "NO" if your firewall asks whether you want the application to access the internet. If you answer "YES" then the LeakTest will declare that your firewall has been penetrated and has been able to access the internet.


*PS added note: Be aware that LeakTest is very old (Last Updated: Jul 10, 2005), so be wary about advice there as to which firewall to use. A lot of firewalls are 'very noisy', have a large footprint and can drive you nuts

Thank you for that. If I clicked default to my firewall, would it cause harm in that I could not access programs or would it just keep asking me to allow whenever a new peogram is clicked on? I wanted to start from scratch so to speak because I made some changes I am not sure of. I am writing this from from a guest account; isn't that safer than the admin acccount?

Many users log in as 'Administrators' for every computer session. While administrative privileges are necessary for software installation, Malware (or an intruder) is most harmful when entering via an Administrator Account. It is best safe practice that you always log in with a Standard User Account for everyday use, even if you are the only person using your computer. If you are the only PC user, disable any guest account as they are an easy point of entry for hackers. Best practice is to disable them.

User Account Control (UAC) should be left on unless it has to be disabled for some reason (I need to do that when using ERUNT on W7).

Restore Windows Firewall settings.

How to Configure Windows Firewall in Windows 7.

cheers,
Lee

So the idea of the guest account being safer than admin and to use it is erronouus. I don't understand how to set up a standard user account but if it is not too techy I will try it.

How to Set Up a Standard User Account.

So the idea of the guest account being safer than admin and to use it is erronouus.

no using the guest account is safer than running as admin. the guest account is only unsafe if the hacker has physical access to the pc/laptop.

from lee's link.

This does not mean that if you operate from a standard user or limited account, you will be immune from harmful programs. Far from it. Viruses, spyware and other malware can still infect your account. They can install themselves into your private folders (just like any other ordinary program can) and set themselves up to run every time you log into your account. They can still steal data from your documents (etc), since those will usually reside in your private folders. In other words, it can do everything that you can do as a standard user, including access your files.

So why then, you may ask, should you bother to set up and use a standard user account? The general thinking among those security experts is that even though you can still be infected and your data harmed or stolen from a standard user account, the number of possible ways malware can infect your system is fewer in such an account than in an administrator account. Barring bugs in Windows itself, theoretically, the malware cannot do things it traditionally does, like modify your Windows system files, unless you explicitly give it permission to do so when Windows prompts you with its User Account Control (UAC) dialog box. This hopefully protects you from some of the things that can harm your system. Of course, if you are one of those who blindly clicks "Yes" or "OK" to every dialog box that appears, then nothing is ever going to protect you.

the guest account is a standard user account, just it has no user passwords set for it so anyone who's in front of your pc/laptop can use it.

I have read everything and thank you for taking the time. It seems a stanrd user account with pass wrd would be good for guests and myself(+wife) while the admin would be good for making changes. To switch between the two I could just click switch user or if done with one, click log off.

I just made a standard user account from which am writing this. I have used Admin for so long everything is in there. My question is, what about Secunia and other security programs? Should I place then in here or when run in admin do they take care of the entire pc? I am editing because I tried the same thing on the laptop, exactly and when I trid to login in it said the login services could not log the standard user ac't in. I tried logging off the admin and others. I did all I could think of but each time it said it would not work. Is this perhaps becasue I am using the same password ans the desktop?

first off never ever use any password for more than a single account/program.

no using the same password on the desktop as on the laptop would not cause problems with the laptop, whatever the problem is on the laptop and logging in to a standard account it's a problem with the laptop alone, sorry no idea why your experiencing problems so can't offer any suggestions.

what about Secunia and other security programs?

well your anti-virus and firewall will keep on running regardless of what account your using, but as for others it depends they need admin rights to work or not.
no idea about secunia specifically because i've never used it.

I understand. After I wrote, I read that someone suggested to run chkdsk if standard account has issues so I did. It would not work so I found a command prompt to make it work - it found no issues. Neither did sfc. Unless someone has an idea, I will keep Googling. Thank you