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Windows OneCare needs work
I've been Beta Testing Microsoft OneCare for some time now. Here's what I've found:
Positives:1. It's nice to have Antivirus, Firewall, and M$ Updates centralized, and taking care of themselves. The program includes M$ Office Updates when it checks for them.
2. It's a relatively easy to use interface if you don't want to change anything.
Negatives:
1. There's no visible indication that e-mail's being scanned. I believe it is, but I like the AVG Icon that indicates that it's scanning e-mail as it comes in. Also, it seems fine with Outlook Express, but strangely enough makes Thunderbird incredibly slow! It isn't just during e-mail download either. The MpEng.exe process takes up a lot of processor time, slowing any action in Thunderbird down.
2. The firewall still tries to anticipate what programs should be allowed out instead of prompting the user every single time. That's one of the things I don't like about the Windows XP SP2 Firewall. It's also a bit more cumbersome than Sygate or ZoneAlarm.
Microsoft should take features people look for in full fledged Antivirus and Firewall programs, like an easy interface for making changes, and incorporate those into their program. Windows and Office Updates should not need a separate application, they should simply be built into Windows!
Want to know more about Firewalls, Stateful Packet Inspection, Web Site Promotion, etc.?
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Steve Gibson on Twit.tv Podcasts
Who's Steve Gibson, and what's a Podcast? Steve's the founder of Gibson Research Corporation. In my opinion, Steve's a brilliant programmer. Check out his site for excellent free and pay software. A Podcast is a way of distributing audio files automatically. Learn about topics from Honeymonkeys to Zotob at This Week in Tech (Twit). Check out the Security Now series.Spyware University
Malware Removal has an excellent platform for learning about spyware and how to clean it! It's free! Just go to the site and become a member. Be prepared to do some work if you sign up though. It's a pretty rigerous course. You'll be able to help yourself and others stay spyware free by the time you're done.Professional Network Security
National Security Agencie's SNAC GuidesInformation Technology (IT) Professionals and Advanced Home User's will like these guides. The SNAC Guides tell you step-by-step how to secure Cisco Router's, Windows NT/2000/XP Systems, and various Server Based Applications. They also tell you why you're doing it and how to test what you've done.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is a Firewall?
A Firewall is a device or a program that makes a distinction between an "inside" or trusted area, and an "outside" or untrusted area. In the case of a software firewall for home PC's, the trusted area is your computer, and the untrusted area is any connection "outside" your computer. For hardware firewalls, the trusted area is the one your computers are on, or the Local Area Network (LAN). The untrusted area is the Internet. They usually allow traffic to flow from your PC or your LAN to the Internet, but permit only data you've requested back in. If you click on www.homecomputeraid.com, your firewall(s) will know that you asked for information from my server and allow that response back in. If you get a hardware firewall, make sure you get one that does Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), and not one that claims to be a firewall because it does Network Address Translation. See below for more about those terms.
Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI)
When a firewall does SPI, it keeps track of the "state" of the traffic. If traffic from outside tries to get in, it is denied access. If you request information from a web site, such as http://www.google.com, the firewall knows you asked for that, so the returning information from Google is permitted. It goes a step beyond Network Address Translation and will stop a greater variety of attacks.
Network Address Translation (NAT)
NAT came into existence because of the rapid depletion of valid Internet IP Addresses. When the TCP/IP Address scheme was created (TCP/IP is the protocol the Internet is based on), the creators had no idea how huge the Internet would eventually become. As the valid Internet Addresses grew sparse, a method was devised which would let organizations use a private address scheme for their internal network, and only a few valid Internet addresses. The router or firewall would then translate the addresses to make it look like all traffic was coming from a valid Internet address (or a few valid Internet addresses in the case of Port Address Translation (PAT)). This process is not designed to create an impenetrable firewall.
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