Topic: Security Update Screw Up

My dad had that problem when he updated. I on the other hand just have have the internet drop out and come back out of the blue, now that could be my WiFi and not the update but I am unsure.

I've had no trouble recently. But my broadband comes down a fibre optic landline rather than wireless. My work connection has been fine too, that's also on a landline.

Interesting...
I wonder if I apply the update and give it some time it will - heal. I don't know. If there was a solid Linux alternative to FrontPage, I'd put Linux on this laptop.
Wait, no... I still like games too much. Dang it.

Ogre, I would be willing to put money that everyone was running Zone Alarm as a common denominator. ZA updated the night before and whatever they did clashed with the XP update the next day. It was a nightmare, my phone did not stop ringing for 3 days.

However in testing new firewalls, Comodo is starting to look better anyways.

You know what... I do run Zone Alarm. That's the cause of the problem eh? That's more than logical.
Is that situation fixed or does it still knock the internet off line? Have you tested Comodo with this new update?

Tested Zone... yup. That was it. Comodo worked fine. Will run that for awhile, but it looks good and my system seems to like it.

Comodo's pretty good. It can be a little intrusive at 1st with all the questions, but it will settle down.
It does seem to get great ratings from security sites.

Another good free firewall that I put on my parent's pc is PC Tool's firewall. http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

They aren't tech savvy at all, and they were able to figure it out. Seems to run pretty light. They have an old P4 2.6 system with a gig of ram. It's a rule based firewall, so you can create your own rules if you like, but runs pretty good with the basic settings. I tried to access their computer and it caught me. Not that I ever tried to hack anything....

I've been using Comodo since the last post... It's working flawlessly. I don't like the interface as much as Zone Alarm, but that is just a matter of getting used to it.

Does ZA or Comodo detect against packet sniffers or packet spoofing? I'm running PC Cillin '08 on my box at home and periodically get alerts regarding schmucks attempting to skeeze my WPA. I was wondering if there was something out there that would detect/block that crap. I just learned about the packet crap a few months ago and it's got me paranoid. It's easy to find packet spoofing software on the net, but I haven't really found anything that will block external packets and evil software engineers. Supposedly the packet info gets stripped at the gateway, and that pretty much is the sum total of my knowledge.

ZA did give me an alert when I was at a B&N out in SLC... dude a couple tables over kept trying to hack me. ZA stopped it. I tapped him on the shoulder and politly told him I'd crush him and his Mac if he tried it one more time.
I've not had a problem for Comodo to work on.

LOL sweet. Would have loved to have seen that. Does ZA, assuming they fix the security update conflict, permanently block the ip/MAC or does it alert on all subsequent attempts? PC Cillin iritates me cuz it only blocks the IP or MAC once then alerts everytime the same IP pings my router. I may have to sign up for a network security class or two just so I can learn how to automatically reset their NIC firmware to all zeros. Wouldn't that be fun?

umtysquat, if you are using a wireless router you might find the following links useful:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/support/wireless_secure.htm
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2249040,00.asp
I don't know what your level of tech expertise is, or how comfortable you are, but the info in that article should reduce the hits you get especially when you don't broadcast your ssid. I hope it helps.

"or does it alert on all subsequent attempts?"
It blocks and alerts unless you tell it to not alert.
I thought it was funny... but the guy about crapped his pants.

Thanks cameramonkey. I broadcast my ssid cus I'm lazy. I use MAC filtering and WPA encryption. The dewsh bags aren't actually getting in it's just the principle. I should probably stop broadcasting. I actually didn't think of that until you mentioned it then I was like DOH-but hey I can just look at my wireless utility instead of going into the other room to check the router. Yes I am fat lol.

LOL! Don't feel bad. I'm a security freak, so I always disable broadcasting.