Re instal Windows XP?

[flymo]

Originally Posted by hindle8907

well im microsoft certified professional and i wouldnt go advising people to browse the net with just microsoft firewall eneabled lol.

Paying .... lol who pays for stuff ?

Well, I'm a black belt in origami. I'm also a professional and as part of a team I manage an extremely large enterprise deployment of Windows clients and servers and I know what I am talking about. Windows firewall is perfectly suitable as a client firewall no matter what the commercial AV software companies tell you.

I would not advise a typical user to browse the web with only a firewall (Windows or otherwise) under normal circumstances. In context though, as a method of connecting to the internet initially to pull down additional layers of security it is perfectly fine.

[hindle8907]

kool lol.

when you put it like this then yeah.

I would not advise a typical user to browse the web with only a firewall (Windows or otherwise) under normal circumstances. In context though, as a method of connecting to the internet initially to pull down additional layers of security it is perfectly fine.

but in a bussiness you really need a better firewall than microsoft one .

Something with more configuration/features i mannage an office of 200 users and sophos firewall

you can get into a whole lot of crap using windoes firewall if you have a q blancers in place on your network ect .. ect .

[Stu]

OK on the internet now
called sky & they told me to type in my network key again - quite likely the problem as the keyboard is fubarred & a couple of keys are "toublesome"
Would have been better to have a more helpful error message than "limited connectio, Fir..." as if it was the Firewall

OK so what security now? AVG?

[flymo]

Originally Posted by hindle8907

but in a bussiness you really need a better firewall than microsoft one

I'm sorry but I dont agree. I dont want to get into a tit for tat on this as it comes down to personal preference to some extent, but it is good enough to support an enterprise with 120,000 clients. There arent many installations bigger than that, certainly none that require a fundementally different approach.

From a management perspective, some of the commercial vendors have products with more friendly user interfaces but in a business, especially a big one, this can be done with group policy anyway so no big deal.

[hindle8907]

kool beans lol . anyways at least the OP is working

[flymo]

Originally Posted by Stu

OK on the internet now
called sky & they told me to type in my network key again - quite likely the problem as the keyboard is fubarred & a couple of keys are "toublesome"
Would have been better to have a more helpful error message than "limited connectio, Fir..." as if it was the Firewall

OK so what security now? AVG?

Excellent, got there in the end. I hear you on the error message but it is accurate really. The client does have a valid network connection even though its not yet authenticated to the wifi access point. Its just 'limited' as the access point wont route you to the internet until you tap in your creds correctly.

Anyway, glad you're sorted.

[Stu]

Yeah thanks for all your help.
About MS Firewall it is an interesting discussion as you here everywhere "don't rely on MS Firewall" which I guess a lot comes from other commercial organisations trying to promote their products. But I also can't believe that the biggest company there is gets away with something that doesn't work.
So is it all about how MS Firewall is set up & managed?

But for me is AVG fine? & how to be sure I'm getting it from a safe place

[hindle8907]

http://free.avg.com/

ms firewall is fine for home use but it doenst stop infection if you click downlaod or open on a trojan/virus.

and i was just saying that in a bussiness if you have mutiple DSL/ADSL conections and vpn's and qbalancers stuff like this where you have to work with loadz of ports ect ms firewall imo is not up to the job.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by hindle8907

http://free.avg.com/

ms firewall is fine for home use but it doenst stop infection if you click downlaod or open on a trojan/virus.

But this is exactly why security protection should be provided in layers. A firewall is not designed to protect against click jacking or downloads, thats getting into packet inspection or detection at the client using AV or ASpyware software. yeah you might buy a suite that does all of these things but its not typically a firewall role.

Originally Posted by hindle8907

and i was just saying that in a bussiness if you have mutiple DSL/ADSL conections and vpn's and qbalancers stuff like this where you have to work with loadz of ports ect ms firewall imo is not up to the job.

With the number of clients we have, we have examples of just about every usage scenario you could imagine, in most countries in the world. We have a network spanning some 600 sites with all manner of remote connection methods, vpns, direct internet links, edge firewalls, packet shapers etc etc and still the Windows firewall seems up to the job.

You need a port open, then you specify a port, maybe its source IP range, maybe IPsec authentication etc etc. We havent found anything that it wasnt able to do. it doesnt have a glitzy user interface but then it doesnt need one. Windows Vistas firewall takes things much further still, its a very very capable firewall.

[ophic]

+1 for windows firewall. It does the job. It's a firewall. It's not an antivirus, antimalware or detection intrusion system. If you don't know the difference, don't slag it off.

(and it takes a lot for me to say good things about anything microsoft)