5 replies to this topic

[EdithBunker]

I downloaded the trail offer of Zone Alarm Pro a little over two weeks ago. My trial period is almost up and I would like some suggestions as to what to get. (And do I really need the "pro" version?) Are the freeware programs going to catch everything? I'm a bit gunshy about purchasing anything on the net now, since the reason I found out about your site is that somehow my debit card number was taken, used? stolen? (not sure the term) when I registered for PayPal for the first time about a month ago. (I've posted my HiJack this log, downloaded the programs suggested here, etc, everything's "clean", but I still am concerned I may miss something and cause myself another problem) I am on a dial-up server right now, but within the next month hope to get on cable--at that time, both mine and my husband's computer will be linked up so we can use the same connection-- or however that works! . I have more questions, but I guess I'll just let it reast for now!

[vultura]

Welcome to Tom Coyote forums.

If you click this link you can compare the differences between ZA (free) and ZA Pro.

To my mind you can get the same level of functionality (if not better) by using ZA (free) adding in a quality antivirus (which I strongly recommend), a pop-up stopper (if you wish to have one), using Spybot regularly (see link at the bottom of my post).

I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience with our card details being "borrowed". If buying from the 'net there are two basic ways to check your details are secure 1) look for https:// in the address bar 2) Check for a small padlock icon in the lower right hand side of the internet explorer window.

Worth a read for good info is this page, created by ChrisRLG.

Edited by vultura, 26 May 2004 - 07:01 PM.

[shelf life]

With cable a secure way to go is, a inexpensive router for inbound and a software firewall, like ZA free for outbound.

[EdithBunker]

Thanks for your responses. I was offline cuz these pesky internet providers want to be paid, and the card that was hacked was the one I use to pay them, and that is closed! LOL!!! (I forgot they were on that card) Shelf Life, I don't know what a router is. I am getting this 'puter upgraded in a couple weeks. (New hard drive, new mother board,Windows XP-- evidently it's a dinosuar? We bought it back in '98 I'm not doing the upgrade, a friend is, is this router something I should have installed then?) Vultura, thanks for the link-- I will switch to the "plain" ZA when this expires. I have Norton antivirus, Spywareguard, Spybot and Adaware. I don't know how I missed the other link you gave, about internet safety, (Just saw it while typing this)I will be reading that after I post this. I always thought I was careful on the internet-- haven't clicked advertisements, I delete emails where i don't recognize the addy,etc. Then the first time I registered for PayPal, this happened! YIKES! I want to be able to sell some stuff on ebay this summer without having some thief stealing my money!

[vultura]

If you have two computers and wish to share an internet connection there are a couple of ways to do it. Cheapest is two network cards (1 per machine), a length of RJ45 cable (crossover) to join the two. Then you need to setup some software called Internet Connection Sharing, which runs on the PC connected to the internet and the other PC runs as a client from that. Downsides to this are 1) It can be troublesome to setup and use 2) To use the internet on the client PC, the host must also be running. Slightly more expensive is again 2 network cards, but this time each one has a seperate cable that goes to a device called a router, which not only joins two (or more) computers to make a network (for sharing files and sometimes printers) but also to share a single an internet connection (usually broadband). This means that one PC can access the internet without need for the other one to be running. Routers will also normally provide a basic level of firewall protection, though I still recommend that each PC also has its own software firewall. To confuse matters further you can now get wireless cards and routers, so you don't need to run cables around. These are more expensive, can be trickier to install and sometimes can be problematic to get decent connections. You might find www.practicallynetworked.com worth a visit, though it can get quite technical at times.

[shelf life]

Shelf Life, I don't know what a router is. 

A NAT router is a external device that sits between your cable modem and your computer. It allows mulitple computers to share a single internet connection. i have 2 computers that are wired via cable to my router and 2 that are wire less. a wired computer would require a ethernet card, most computers now days come with this. A rj45 cable would then have to run from the wired computer to the router.
A wireless computer would have to have a wireless card in it , can be easily added. the router itself would have to support both wired and wireless.
From a security standpoint:
NAT routers have built in firewalls that discard unsolicited traffic to your computer only.
A software firewall would alert you to anything leaving your computer,

http://www.homepcnetwork.com/
http://www.cert.org/...e_networks.html
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/