Why you keep the firewall up...

[pam123]

After initially having trouble playing an on-line game and running my firewall at the same time ( yes, I got that straightened out ) I started wondering about all those folks who just turn the thing off.
I mean, outside on those MSMessenger pop-ups you can get hit with, what happens. So I found this.
It's technical enough to cross your eyes ( and I now know more about DDOS attacks than I ever thought possible) but I now have a real motivation for keeping the firewall up.
I also know that any company who advises you to disable your firewall for their game is talking nonsense.
EA get a clue!!!
Here's the article :http://www.pivx.com/kristovich/adv/mk001/

Figuring out firewalls is a pain but it looks like it's necessary.

[sam21]

wow,now I don't really play online games,but is the free version of ZoneAlarm running in stealth mode enough?

[LordofEchoSide]

to get my NIS Firewall working with my games, I just went to the options > advanced > other tab > and unchecked "Block Fragmented IP Packets"


is that safe? :confused:

[pam123]

Sam 21,
I use ZA and it does the job. Test it out at Sheilds Up and find out for yourself.
L_O_E_S,
I've never used the NIS firewall so I can't say but Sheilds Up can.

[Blakhart]

I always run the fwall when online, no matter what. The fwall I use is the one that comes in xp, good enuf 4 me.

[Fastfly]

WEll I am into Using my Hardware firewall now/Router. My Software hasnt detected more then one intruder since I started using it 6 months ago.

[pam123]

I get the occasional hacker running port scans. It's enough to remind me not to get careless.

[Spyda]

how do you tell if someone is doing port scans?

[Alienware_Dude]

Your firewall should notify you if that happens.

[pam123]

ZA alerts you when ever something hits it that's trying to get in.
You are given the choice whether or not you want it to alert you for this type of scan.
Select "Details" to find out what it was and tell your firewall not to alert you for the usual "web noise" stuff.
What this means in practice is that when ZA pops up it's stopping something serious. Always check "Details" when that happens.
Every few weeks ZA tells me that someone's looking for anyone with enabled file and printer sharing, those are the ports scanned.
I'm guessing it's a "script kiddie", they have to start somewhere.
I just see to it that they don't start with me.

[Tuf]

Disabling your firewall for any reason neates the whole idea of having one. My network gets banged on several times a day.