Okay, tired of waiting for DSL so the cable company is coming tomorrow to hook me up. When I get rid of the second telephone line the costs will be about the same.

Now the question for other cable users. I've heard some people say they use a regular anti-virus program, though one person said you should really buy a program with a firewall. What's everybody else doing?

 

Go to www.download.com and do a search for "Zone alarm" it is a free firewall program that gives you complete control over your connection. Pretty easy to use to.

 

Definitly use an antivirus program like Norton or McAffee. I perfer Norton because it is a one time buy and the virus updates are free. McAffee uses a web based antivirus which costs about 35.00 a year. Both are top notch programs and will protect your system from viruses. Along with the antivirus, you will also need a firewall. The firewall is different because it prevents unathorized users from entering your system. A firewall will also keep your system from even being seen on the web if set up properly. I recomend Zone Alarm. This program is free to all personal users and may be found at downloads.com. It is one of the most effective personal firewalls avalible, free or otherwise. Very easy to set up and works very well. Check out some reviews of Zone Alarm on CNET.com. Hope this helped.

 

I run Zone Alarm Pro for the firewall program and Norton Anti-virus ver 7 for the virus stuff.
Since my house is networked with cat5 plug ins in every room I set up a server in my office that the cable modem is hooked to then that connects to the internal hub to feed my kids rooms, my other system and my laptop I plug in where ever I may feel like going. This has worked well for me with this system acting as the Firewall and gateway. I installed the Norton on each individual system as well since the kids have their own e-mails and do a lot of gaming and etc on the web.
I used to use Black Ice but got tired off all the alerts that kept popping up in the background, Zone alarm logs them but lets you just have it log it in the background instaed of constantly popping up. You may be able to shut that off in Black Ice but I`m not sure.. Get ready though as cable has tons of port scans and pings that log all day. You can test your system on the web using Shields UP to see how secure you may or may not be......

 

Go with Zone Alarm best overall protection from incoming and outgoing traffic. You might also want to get a router www.tigerdirect.com has a real good 3com one for $49.99. With hardware and software protection you would be very well protected.

Also I would look around for some registry tweaks to speed up you cable modem. After backing up my registry I applied several of the these tweaks and they worked great.

 

No matter what you method of connetion to the internet, ALWAYS use a good anti-virus program, and keep the signatures up to date.

Cable modem or DSL users should consider the use of a HARDWARE firewall. The software firewalls are hackable, use system resources, and -may- cause system coruption. They also have to be installed on every PC you own that connects to the internet. They are bit more money than a s/w firewall, but not much.

Linksys makes a very good router / switch / firewall (I'm using one now).
It will allow up to 4 PCs to share a single DSL or Cable modem. It is "Stackable", which means I can connect or daisychain other units to it so that more PCs can be connected. It provides dedicated bandwidth to each PC connected. The router allows you to direct different protocals (TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP) to different PCs, and can establish a "DMZ" for a dedicated web server if you want to run one.

The firewall portion allows to to run in "stealth" mode. Your PCs are invisable to portscans. If you can't be seen, you can't be hacked.

Take a look at:
www.linksys.com

For security info, and a good explaination of firewalls, check out:
http://grc.com/default.htm
This site will allow you to test your vulnerability, and what info your PC is broadcasting to others on the internet.

 

The best thing to do is buy a firewall of some type. Zone Alarm is a great product, But I like having a firewall between my pc and the net. Linksys, D-Link and Netgear make a really good product. If you have more than 1 PC it will allow you to hook them all up to the net. At least four then you will need a bigger hub.

If you have kids then look at Netgear's product, It will allow you to filter and set connection times that the PC can connect to the net.

 

Hey JD,

After all the replies, I can't add much but I sure will never give up my cable connection unless I have no choice. I use Norton Internet security which has anti-virus along with Norton Firewall software.

I get port scans all day long but I have checked with other programs and my system does not appear to have a leak or hole in it. The most popular potential attack on my system has been a trojan horse virus called "Back Door Sub Seven".

I get potential attacks at least 10 times a day and sometimes even more, much more, but I have always been protected, at least as far as I can tell. I understand that if it is ever installed on a system that a person can do whatever they please with your system without you having knowledge of them doing it.

Anyway, everything I have read in this thread has sounded like very good advice and no matter what you do, don't leave yourself vulnerable to the hackers.
Let us know when you are up and screaming!!

DaveMan

 

I agree with everyone about the latest anti-virus available and like Norton. Also agree with Zone Alarm. Haven't had any experience with router/switches at home but most every business uses them.

I know one guy who made an interesting discovery. Once up on his new cable system he clicked on network neighborhood and to his horror saw Everyone on his cable network! Was even able to go look at their puters!

Definitely don't share your drives, printers, etc. unless you have a firewall and router/switch!

 

I also put in a vote for ZoneAlarm.

As for anti-virus software, I've always used one McAfee product or another. These days, I use the web based VirusScan Online ActiveShield. Cost me something like $29.95 for a year's subscription. It automatically checks for and installs updates every day at whatever time I set it for.

In all the years that I've been on the net, I have never been hit with a virus. McAfee has always protected me.

The best thing about ZoneAlarm is it works and it's free. My computer is on 24/7 and I don't worry about it.

 

Me too.

ZoneAlarm running here.

www.zonelabs.com

You will also probably want to tweak your system to get the most out of your cable hookup. Here are a few links.

www.speedguide.net
www.dslreports.com
www.pcpitstop.com

After you get your system tweaked you will want to run some speed tests.

http://home.cfl.rr.com/eaa/Bandwidth.htm

A good site for general cable questions.

www.cablemodemhelp.com

 

Thanks for all the great info. Just connected, WOW!

I've downloaded zone alarm. I think I have it set up correctly, any tips to make sure I'm using it correctly....

 

Having File and Printer Sharing turned on for TCPIP is a BAD thing.... If you must share files on your local LAN then do it only from NetBeui this protocol is none routeable and make sure it is turned off on TCP/IP.

Try this site https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2, Once there click on probe ports. I use it to test my firewall from time to time. I am sure there are others out there that will test it also.

 

There is really not much to set up. Just install and watch it work.

If you get tired of seeing all the alerts you can disable the alert popup window. What you will get instead is a "silent alert". A silent alert is a mini popup that will show on the ZA icon in the taskbar (older versions had a blue and white "a").

Now that you are on cable and running a firewall you will be amazed at just how many probes get blocked by ZA. In most cases these alerts are nothing to worry about, just people scanning blocks of IP addresses or worms like Code Red looking for vulnerable machines. Since you are now behind a firewall the probes won't even see you

 

Yea, I keep getting those block messages, had me wondering if something was right or not....all seems to be well! This cable thing has been great so far, FAST!