TSGL: Online Armor Personal Firewall

[Russell W. Coover]

Yes, it may block applications from checking to see if there are updates. It
may block an application from reporting a problem it has run into, such as a
bug, or a problem with software outside the application. 

One application I occasionally use decrypts DVDs (legally). If the software
has a problem with the decryption, it reports back to the software author
the name of the DVD and the nature of the problem.  The software author then
changes or updates the application to make it work. Frankly, it's a good way
to keep the software up to date and working. 

In addition, the firewall could start blocking software like an Atomic Clock
synchronizer from working. If the software cannot query a time server, it
cannot sync your computer. Windows or Microsoft Update may not work. You may
not be able to contact other computers in your local network. In fact, any
software that has any legitimate reason to reach out over the internet or
over your network may not be able to do so. These things are usually
fixable, but may require lots of time and lots of head scratching to do so.
Or maybe, just maybe you won't be able to find the solution. And in some
cases, you may be having problems without even knowing it, where you cannot
even see where you are being hurt (an example of that would be an update to
one of your applications that would benefit you that doesn't happen because
your firewall blocked it.

Personally, I don't worry much about what goes out from my computers because
I'm careful about what goes in. In addition, everything going into my
computers passes through a "firewall" wireless router, which has been
configured to keep virtually anything I don't want in my computers out. So I
don't block outbound. The Vista Firewall as configured by MS is good enough
for me.

Russ  

-----Original Message-----
From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Ferrell
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 3:32 PM
To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
Subject: Re: TSGL: Online Armor Personal Firewall

Russ,
I changed the Vista Firewall to block outbound communication as you 
suggested.  Now I'm wondering exactly what are all the ramifications.
Exactly what will it prevent?  Does it prevent something that I may want to 
do?
Mike
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Russell W. Coover" <coover at fastmail.fm>
To: "'Tech Support Guy Mailing List'" <list at tsgserver.com>
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 8:53 PM
Subject: Re: TSGL: Online Armor Personal Firewall


> Mike,
>
> I don't know a thing about the Armor Personal Firewall except what I read 
> in
> your post. However, I do know something about the Windows Vista Firewall
> which you said "I understand is not much good anyway."
>
> Windows Vista Firewall may not be the best Firewall available for Vista. 
> But
> for most of us, it is enough to keep you safe. Actually, it is a pretty 
> good
> firewall. It's main weakness is that it (like previous Windows Firewalls)
> does not stop applications on your computer from "calling home". That is, 
> it
> monitors incoming internet communication, but it does not monitor outgoing
> internet communication. At least that is the way it acts as a default. It
> also, by default, will not allow you to create a log of attempts to 
> contact
> your PC from the outside.
>
> The Vista Firewall, is, however effective if you are careful about what 
> you
> download on the internet, and, frankly, I use it on all three of my Vista
> machines. In addition, it is possible to go into the firewall a change 
> it's
> configuration to block outgoing messages. Microsoft did not make it easy 
> to
> do so because they (probably correctly) felt that novices may be 
> terrified.
> It is done by opening up the Search box, and typing in "wf.msc" without 
> the
> quotes marks, of course) and then dowuble clicking the result. Or, if you
> have added "Run" to your Start Menu as I have, you can type it in there.
>
> Using that applet, you can configure your computer to stop software from
> sending outbound communication and you can make Windows log all attempts
> from the outside which you can read with Notepad.
>
> The Windows Vista Firewall is good, and can be made very good.
>
> Russ Coover
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
> Behalf Of Mike Ferrell
> Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 3:03 PM
> To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
> Subject: TSGL: Online Armor Personal Firewall
>
> I recently saw a rating of several paid and free firewalls.  At the top 
> was
> the free Online Armor Personal Firewall so I decided to try it out.  After
> installing I immediately had PC shutdown problems and had to reboot in 
> safe
> mode.  Ultimately, I ended up uninstalling it and doing a System Restore 
> to
> alleviate the problem.  I just recently bought this new PC with Vista.  It
> came with Norton trialware so I have turned off the Windows Firewall which

> I
> understand is not much good anyway.
>
> Does anyone here have experience with this Armor Firewall in combination
> with Vista, or do you have any suggestions or comments for me?  I 
> understand
> that two different firewalls sometimes don't play well together, but I did
> not have the opportunity to turn Norton off before I had the problem.  The
> Armor installation software shut down the computer after finishing up and
> before I turned off Norton, and that's when I ran into the shutdown
> problems.  I don't know if the Armor/Norton issue is what caused my 
> problem
> or not.
>
> I'm thinking about trying again.  Just what procedure should I use to 
> safely
> get on the internet, download and install Armor, and meanwhile turn off
> Norton.  I'm afraid to turn Norton off before going on the internet.  I
> would very much like to use Armor if I can.  Note, in the past with XP I
> always used Zone Alarm, but it was rated "very poor" in the same study.
>
> If anyone is using Armor Firewall please let me know how you like it,
> especially if you have Vista.
>
> Meanwhile, I also found a couple free virus scanners that I am thinking
> about using in conjunction with my AVG Free.  These are Avast and Avira. 
> I
> know one antivirus won't find everything, so I would like to have at least
> two.  Any comments about Avast and Avira?
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
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