TSGL: Online Armor Personal Firewall

Wed Jan 23 20:56:13 EST 2008

Mike,

An interesting article here:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/128834/analysis_new_windows_vista_firewall_fails_on_outbound_security.html

I don't have Vista so can't comment further. Make sure to read the 
comments which seem to indicate, from at least one user, that outgoing 
filters are possible without specifying each and every malware.

H Davis

Mike Ferrell wrote:
> 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
>> _______________________________________________
>> Tech Support Guy Mailing List
>> http://www.tsgserver.com/list/
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Tech Support Guy Mailing List
>> http://www.tsgserver.com/list/
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.4/1188 - Release Date: 
>> 12/17/2007 2:13 PM
>>
>>     
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tech Support Guy Mailing List
> http://www.tsgserver.com/list/
>
>   

-- 
H Davis   hdavis1 at gmail.com