at home i use watchguard soho hardware and sygate...at work i use...umm..no...i don't think i'll tell you my network topology thank you very much... ...i do use a combination of multiple hardware solutions and sygate


READ THIS software firewall and win9x users...you might not be as secure as you think...

the following applies to zonealarm free version...i have not checked it with others...but it may be a problem as well...

IF YOU ARE USING ZA and WIN98...and you are not logging on all they time...or if your computer reboots while your not around....YOU ARE NOT PROTECTED..ZA under win98 ONLY loads after logon...if your box is sitting there with the welcome to windows networking dialog...it has not loaded and any ports or shares which you have are completely exposed...

we did some investigating a while back HERE

As VictorKaum put it...

You can access a Win box when it's still at the log on screen.
ping, finger, Dos, DDoS...
shares are processed.

Try it at home... share a drive on a Win box, log off
try - with another pc in your LAN - to 'ping' to the box or 'net use' to the drive it will work. You can access any shared device on this box when the pc is still at the log on screen.

I'am testing it right now to be sure:

ping is possible (ZA does not block until it has been loaded, after logon)
DoS and DDoS are possible
.

this problem does not occur with win2k/xp since firewall and av softs are loaded as a service...prior to logon...