DSL ?

I agree - I leave mine on all the time, but also have a firewall always running. There is an excellent free firewall called Zone Alarm which has caught everything that has tried to get in.

Plus - use another browser for extra protection.

 

If you have trouble with Zone Alarm you can also try Sygate Personal Firewall... (I couldn't get Zone Alarm to work on my DSL, Switch, and WinXP combination.)

I, too, shut down my DSL Modem, and all computers when we are not home or going to bed...

Part of it is the 'exposure' of being 'on' continuously gives hackers time to scan and find you... (Something that is greatly reduced if you have a Firewall)

But, we also live in a rural area and the house has poor grounding and lightning protection.

If it doesn't take that long to log-on it won't hurt anything to shut down when you are not 'active'.

 

Firewalls are good for the most part, but they do have limitations. Also, firewalls are targets to attacks themselves - people like to see if they can beat em.

I turn mine off when not using it. I don't keep any personal information on the computer and I don't do internet shopping/banking ect.

 

Generally, no. If you've got a firewall, you're in the clear.

You CAN, if you've downloaded something you unsuspectingly weren't supposed to. I suggest installing a copy fo ad-aware (which removes data miners), and a copy of AVG antivirus on you computer. Both are freeware, easy to use, and are updatable. Run them every few days for a virtually clear machine.

 

can you run ad aware with Zone Alarm and AVG?

 

I don't see why not.

 

"can you run ad aware with Zone Alarm and AVG?"

I run Spybot Seach and Destroy to protect against the ads and spyware, Zone Alarm, and Norton's antivirus at the same time. A little different than what you are asking. Ad Aware seemed to let some things through that Spybot stops. Both together seems to do the trick. Norton's is not free, though. Each protects something a little different and they all seem to get along. My wife also uses the same combination.

Now if I will ever get aroung to downloading Firefox...

 

If you ever get around to that you will love it

 

Just downloaded and ran ad-aware. Over 200 files were removed!!

 

C4K,

Download Spybot as well. UTEOTW is right (I cannot believe that I just wrote that). Using both is a sure thing. Plus, both are free.

Redundancy is a good thing.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

I've got DSL. We put the computer in Standby when we're not on it, and activate the internet lock when we are using the computer w/o internet (playing games, doing the budget).

Now if I could only get our teenage daughter to follow the program...

In Christ,
Trotter

 

Thanks for all the advice, spybot found and removed ANOTHER 93 "problems." My guess is that these came from my dial-up days when I did not run a firewall?

 

If your DSL modem is also a router, it may have a NAT or SPI firewall on it. Or you may be able to get a hardware router and run your network through that. That is the most effective way, since no outside entities should be able to even see your system from the internet, they only see the router.

I use a Linksys wireless router with a firewall in it. I also run Symantec Firewall on my windows machines. And my UNIX machines are hardened, but who cares right? If you are on DSL, you should have at least a software firewall, preferably both a hardware and software firewall.

 

I only use a software firewall most of the time (on my Mac) Of course spyware viruses etc aren't a problem for Macs at this time. I would suggest using Firefox of something else besids IE though. Forget the fact that it is more secure, it is a pleasure to use (unlike IE)

 

I have AOL 9.0 which has the AOL Spyware Protection and AOL Privacy wall. I also have McAfee Virus Scan.

I'm not very computer literate - is this sufficient if I leave my computer on 24/7,

 

I will refrain from making my feelings about aol public...

Suffice it to say the only real protection you have is the non-aol McAffe you are running...

 

My husband signed up for the FREE AOL trial when he got his laptop and canceled it the first day because he disliked it. A few months later, he discovered they'd been taking money from our bank account each month. It took a LOT of paperwork to cancel them.

 

I know what you mean about AOL - Last year AOL closed our account because they got us mixed up with a newly deceased relative and declared us dead also!