Computer advice requested!

Hey all you experts, just what do I need to know about a firewall. I've downloaded the freebie from ZoneAlarm, but have not yet installed it. I need to know just how much trouble a firewall is, is it worth the effort, is the freebie adequate or do i need an upgraded version ??? I'm pretty computer savvy, but have never encountered or used a firewall on a personal system before. Running Windows ME.

Any advice will be appreciated, and THANKS IN ADVANCE !!



[This message has been edited by pharologst (edited 04-27-2001).]

George -

Post these kinda queries in the Geek Forum, uh, er I mean the Forum About These Forums. I'm moving it there.

There have been numerous discussions on software firewalls and ZoneAlarm. Search will locate these for you. If you have an always-on Internet connection, as with cable modem or DSL a firewall is mandatory. I'll try to answer your specific questions.

Thanks,
Saint NAT
[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 04-27-2001).]

Zone Alarm is rated as the best by a number of knowledgable information technology sources. I use it and highly recommend it. It's available free for personal use at www.zonealarm.com.

For all you ZoneAlarmists out there, version 2.6 is now available as a free download. See the link in Lamar's msg.

Next to a hardware firewall, ZoneAlarm is about as good as it gets, and its free. :-) You will be surprised to see all the traffic that's knocking on your computer's door? ZoneAlarm will stop a lot of it. And even better, if someone gets in, ZoneAlarm won't let them get back out. It's pretty darn embarassing to discover your computer is being used by someone else as the source of their doings.

If you wanna find out about the relative security of your computer, take a jaunt over to
Steve Gibson\'s site .

__
/im

Sitting behind my little Netgear rt314 router, with a buncha filters, I don't see a blip from ZoneAlarm.
[This message has been edited by JTimothyA (edited 05-04-2001).]