TSGL: Online Armor Personal Firewall

[Russell W. Coover]

It actually is a "very good" firewall for those who want protection both "In
and Out" (that's what I need, a good hamburger). But as I indicated, this
can cause problems unless you completely understand what you are doing and
have lots of time and patience to work out problems. But you do need a very
good "in" firewall, and Vista has one built in. The "out" firewall is of
less importance if the user takes care. 

Now, about that hamburger ... it's been snowing heavily for about 6 hours,
and it looks like we have about 8 inches of snow on the ground (in addition
to what we had from earlier in the week) and we expect another 12 to 16
inches the rest of the night (it's almost 11:00 PM here). And the closest
"In and Out" is 15 miles to the bottom of the hill, and then another 20
miles through the flat lands, where it is raining hard enough to flood roads
and intersections. It may be a while before I get to "In and Out" again.

Russ Coover
In the mountains of Southern California (where the electrical power also
seems to be "in and out")

-----Original Message-----
From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Ferrell
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 6:12 PM
To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
Subject: Re: TSGL: Online Armor Personal Firewall

Russ,
Many thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed explanation.  Based 
on your previous comments about "making Vista Firewall very good", I thought

your were recommending this action.  After reading this I realized you don't

necessarily recommend it, so I decided I don't want to block outbound 
traffic after all.  I'm really glad I asked.  A little information in my 
hands can sometimes be dangerous.
Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Russell W. Coover" <coover at fastmail.fm>
To: "'Tech Support Guy Mailing List'" <list at tsgserver.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: TSGL: Online Armor Personal Firewall


> 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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>> Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.4/1188 - Release Date:
>> 12/17/2007 2:13 PM
>>
>
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> 10:24 AM
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