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#31
Hey Mike,
The firewall installs automatically with the defaults, You don't need to set up anything. Messing about with software firewalls is only for very advanced users with special needs, and the knowledge required to implement them. "Normal" users should simply accept the default settings, and not even try to change anything. Trying this without the prerequisite knowledge will invariably do more harm than good.
That is precisely what I mean. I am at the mercy of default settings which I must trust, as I have no way to adjust.
I don't know what you mean by "hand-holding". Personally I prefer reliable unobtrusive solutions to most problems. The machine should be protected as well as possible without my having to do much at all. MSE is such a solution. Norton and a few others are in my considered opinion little more than catastrophes waiting to happen.
By hand-holding I mean that if I run a new program, Norton asks me what permission to give it and if I want to trust it, along with any update programs it install or help services, so as not to deal with them again. When I download a program it automatically checks the program and advises from a user database if it is safe, unknown or know malware. I like that. When I watch a Youtube video it auto scans and then lets me run the viewer. I like that, too. It is not intrusive to me. It actually reminds me of what is going on.
I have never had a virus get through it on any of my machines, and on a lot of others as well. My sincere advice would be to throw the Norton stuff in the bin, and use MSE. In my experience the Norton stuff is unreliable at best, and you have absolutely nothing to gain by keeping it. Quite the reverse! MSE is free.
Since I have already spent the money on a 3 -user pack for $39, I have already made the investment. Like you I have never had a virus on any of my machines either and I am much less knowledgeable then yourself. MSE doesn't provide the hand-holding and then it combines with a Firewall that is set to whatever defaults that someone else thinks is safe enough for me, with no interaction as in Commodo. Does WF run in a sandbox? I gave up on Norton several years ago as it was growing out of control on my part. I didn't use it until Norton 2010 came out and then they threw in a free 2011 upgrade. The price is right and already spent.
I recall the days of being unable to get all of Norton out of your computer, it does not seem that way now. BTW I would not consider using the Norton 360 Security as I have read it doesn't fair well compared to many free competitors.
There are hundreds and thousands of so called "tests" for all sorts of things, all over the internet, and most of them are pure bullshit. The people you are talking to here have to deal with this stuff day in and day out, they know what works and what doesn't.
There is no such thing as a "Detection Rate" in regard to a firewall. A firewall blocks access to things which are not explicitly allowed. That is all it does. It does not detect anything.
With this regarding the tests, I believe they are variable in results. The firewall does let me stealth ports, which at least to me seems a good idea, it alerts me and blocks any outbound connections that I don't authorize. I do not believe you are saying that there is no difference on whatever brand of firewall you choose, am I?
These things can be rather confusing, you have to understand the PURPOSE for which these tools are used in order to know what is going on.
I concur fully with you on this point. I just haven't had or taken the time to become an expert in the field.
There is no effort involved. Windows firewall does not require any setup or pampering or anything else, it just works.
A sandbox is something entirely different again. It is normally some method, a piece of software, or hardware, or system, which isolates part of the system from the rest of the system. I have two perfect sandboxes sitting in front of me right now. They are standalone machines with no internet connection, and I keep baseline images of their single drives. When I have finished messing about with whatever I am messing about with, I just restore the images. NOTHING gets out of my sandboxes.
Antivirus programs are not sandboxes.
With all due respect, if you don't know what these things actually do, then you are in no position to judge them at all.
As ever, it is entirely your choice whether you accept advice or not. It is however as well to remember that the others who posted here ( and myself), are doing their level best to help you and give you the best advice possible, simply because they would like things to work well for you.
Regards....Mike Connor
I believe I referred to the sandbox in reference to Comodo, having just deleted that section, I do know that the sandbox is in the Commodo firewall. Sandboxes sound interesting and I will probably investigate this further. I know my friend wants me to change to Chrome 10 because it is sandboxed. Once I understand more fully, I may agree.
As having gone through computer technician training for three year degree and building and troubleshooting computerized CMC and our own product, along with using machine language and CPM long before there was an IBM and it's clone MSDOS, I am not completely without experience. So to those who feel I have no right to judge their decisions, I can not personally accept that. I certainly have no where near the credentials of all the responders such as yourself, to my questions. And I sincerely appreciate your advice, opinions, information and self-confidence. I am sure it has been rightfully earned. But why would I dump a paid for program that seems to work perfectly, exactly as I want it, on three different machine because some people see unexplained dragons and hazards? I see no sense in that. I may regret it, and that will be my fault. That is why I keep up to date system images. Fool me twice, shame on me!!
I also run Secunia PSI, which I find to be very very helpful. What I really need to do, is to dive into a manual on my router and figure out every option and its purpose, so as to make my own informed choice on the settings and not rely on the auto setup, which I didn't. Just have to fill in some blanks like the website blocking.
I hope Mike that you realize, I am not disregarding your advice out of hand. I hope I have explained my reasoning. If not, we can agree to disagree until my subscription runs out. Thank you very much for your patience, perseverance and time. You have been highly informative as have the other posters to this thread.
Please continue with any other info that pops up! You know I need it!
Glenn