A new cable moden, help

[Wself]

Hey I have just got a cable moden hooked up to my computer. What I need to know is what all do i need to do to stop someone from hacking into my computer. Please give details new to this stuff


Thanks Wsef

[petemcevoy]

If your not too au fait with the intricacies of network security, my advice would be to stick a software firewall on there asap, a full time internet connection exposes you to a whole bag of worms and something like zone alarm or tiny personal firewall will deter all but the most ardent attacker.
Do a search on google for either of the above to get the url's.

[Wself]

If I put on firewall on my system. Will it affect my speed of the cable modum. I tried norton firewall for a few min. and my speed was like having a phone line again. I don't know if it was the firewall or something else causing the slow speeds

[petemcevoy]

Nah, if you've a decent pc the performance hit shouldn't be too bad - i've got my modem connected to a 166mhz pc running linux and it runs ok.

[KapperDog]

If you have a home network, I would recommend you spend 100 bucks and get a router.

If it is a stand alone puter, ZoneAlarm at www.zonelabs.com or TPF at www.tinysoftware.com are the most highly recommended.

TPF has advanced features while ZA offers ease of use.

[stflook]

Go to zonelabs.com and get zonealarm. I use it, and love it. That should be all you need to do.

If you have a home network, you should invest in a router. You will spend about $100. If you get one, get a Linksys router. It has an excellent firewall, and is relatively easy to manage.

[faust]

Use Win 2k, use 2 nics and do NAT
or Use zonealarm AND some other firewall. i.e tiny personal firewall or blackice defender

[JP]

Greetings:

This article from our Fight-Back! section may be of use as well.

[Conf1rm3d_K1ll]

One major point when switching to cable is that your Ip number stays the same (static), which makes you alot more vulnerable to attacks

[petemcevoy]

I'm afraid that's simply not the case, i've got a cable modem and it uses dhcp. If i were to have my machine off for more than 4 hours it would get a new ip address - not that i do have my machine off for more than four hours, or at all - i use a linux firewall which stays connected all the time, i bring my dual boot main pc up and down all the time though.