Dear Luggers,
Cable internet is a reality that one cannot ignore but it also has its problems of security. Viruses and trojans keep getting in frequently and its quite a nuiscance having to get rid of them often on the same machine. A firewall is not very usefull here as it is in dialup. To access the net, the gateway traffic has to be allowed, so that brings in the unwanted elements too. Being a LAN based system, there is unauthorised traffic from other infected machines too. The clients are all on windows as linux is still not very popular. However, the principles of security should be similar.
So what is the way to keep the client machine clean even if the gateway is not so?
Regards,
Rony.
--- Rony Bill ronbilly@hotpop.com wrote:
Dear Luggers,
Cable internet is a reality that one cannot ignore but it also has its problems of security. Viruses and trojans keep getting in frequently and its quite a nuiscance having to get rid of them often on the same machine. A firewall is not very usefull here as it is in dialup. To access the net, the gateway traffic has to be allowed, so that brings in the unwanted elements too. Being a LAN based system, there is unauthorised traffic from other infected machines too. The clients are all on windows as linux is still not very popular. However, the principles of security should be similar.
So what is the way to keep the client machine clean even if the gateway is not so?
Regards,
Rony.
The obvious ones that come to mind are: a) Installing an antivirus program and regularly updating them. b) Put a hardware firewall between your PC/LAN and the External Cable LAN. A Good one at the consumer end would be the dlink/netgear/linksys type of wired/wireless router+switch+accessPoint with built in firewall.
c) Avoid IE and Outlook/Express. Try Firefox and Mozilla. Or better still since u have cable now, dont check mail via a desktop client.
d) Just switch to linux dude. its not half as bad as they make it out to be. Ok, so you cant do everything with it easily, but i'd rather do some of the things all the time, than all of the things some of the times. :)
hope this helps. -abhishek
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----- Original Message ----- From: "Abhishek Daga" abhishekdaga@yahoo.com
The obvious ones that come to mind are: a) Installing an antivirus program and regularly updating them. b) Put a hardware firewall between your PC/LAN and the External Cable LAN. A Good one at the consumer end would be the dlink/netgear/linksys type of wired/wireless router+switch+accessPoint with built in firewall.
c) Avoid IE and Outlook/Express. Try Firefox and Mozilla. Or better still since u have cable now, dont check mail via a desktop client.
d) Just switch to linux dude. its not half as bad as they make it out to be. Ok, so you cant do everything with it easily, but i'd rather do some of the things all the time, than all of the things some of the times. :)
hope this helps. -abhishek
Hello Abhishek,
An antivirus detects viruses after they enter the system and get resident. Many of my clients are home users so the comp is used by the kids too and they have their own choices and uses which are difficult to implement in linux. They are used to the standard programs.
Also the print quality of docs (LX 300) is not good in linux, my Open Office in linux throws out pages whenever I give a print command although the printer is setup and this is a trouble area. I personally use linux only for my course learning and experimenting, although I am discovering benefits like faster file transfers over the ethernet, a very powerfull command prompt mode, ease of network setup. However internal modem drivers is still a problem. I had enquired earlier about favourite linux internal modems in Mumbai but there was no response. Any help in these areas would be greatly beneficial in promoting linux to my clients.
How is a hardware firewall beneficial over the software one? In both cases I would have to allow access to the gateway. In a software firewall, is there any setting that will allow me to connect to the gateway, yet block unauthorised traffic? I have a firewall where I can setup individual rules. Any tips?
If I have installed linux in another partition, can I retrive/import my emails from my windows clients' folders in C drive into the linux partition under the mozilla email format?
Thanks and Regards,
Rony.
Sometime on Nov 26, Rony Bill assembled some asciibets to say:
in the unwanted elements too. Being a LAN based system, there is unauthorised traffic from other infected machines too. The clients are all on windows as linux is still not very popular. However, the
Is this a windows problem or a linux problem?
I suggest making linux popular to solve both.
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Abhishek Daga -
Philip Tellis -
Rony Bill