My basic philosophy on these things is to use the services that come with Windows, or use a free program. I have never paid for a v*rus program or any kind of system analysis/defrag/suite/recovery/doitall program. It amazes me that people are wiling to pay for these programs when free and adequate programs are so readily available. I have never had a v*rus. I have Zone alarm and never had a problem of any kind with repeated requests for site info. I currently have it turned off, and am using the XP firewall, but I also have a dialup connection. The XP firewall seems to be more than adequate when tested at Steve Gibson's site. I had to keep changing the security level with Zone Alarm when I wanted to use FTP for some of my web sites. I liked the compete "Stealth", however, when the security settings were adjusted to high. I also tend to tinker with my O/S a lot, and enjoy solving the problem that come with Windows, for myself and others. I even read manuals and help files. I realize this is not everyone's cup of tea, which is OK with me as it supplements my income very nicely from time to time. I do a lot of volunteer work on the 'net and help teach an internet course at our local library. I currently have a 2 computer network, XP and 98. The 98 machine has been running in its present cconfiguration for about two years without a reinstall or major problem. I use it daily, have added to and changed almost all the hardware and frequently change/update the software. I also get all the Windows updates that I think are necessary and keep my anti- v*rus up to date. Computers, and paricularly operating systems, have a long way to go before they're easy to use. I'm not sure why people are so reluctant to use the resources available to keep their systems healthy or to solve even the most basic of problems, but they are, and the software manufacturers should recognize this and get more creative with problem solving. Sorry to be so long winded-just my two cents. **************************************************************************** ******************************************************
1) I found that for some reason Norton seems to like the 512 Meg value - when I ended up setting it to that value, that seemed to get rid of the problem. BUT then I was using the SystemWorks package, and not the internet security package. 2) With regard to Zone Alarm, after what I have seen with regard to version 3 and all the problems it seems to be causing, especially if you want to get rid of the program, and after my own personal experience dealing with the program on a friend's computer (thing never seemed to be able to keep the settings I told to use - constantly, over and over and over again, would ask the exact same questions about the same exact sites I had just told how to handle), I finally totally gave up on the program (free version is not going beyond the 2.6 version it would seem.) Since I and my friend have both version of SystemSuite by OnTrack, which now includes a very excellent firewall (they have licensed the personal version of Sygate's Firewall,) I installed that and it works like a charm. 3) With regard to OnTrack, the SystemSuite package has many of the same type of programs and utilities of Norton's SystemWorks, and works great. I personally have not had the kind of problems with Norton that others seems to experience, so I have it installed on my own system as well as OnTrack's package - I use each with success. Since you have had the problems you have in the past with Norton, you might want to look at getting the SystemSuite package, and try for yourself how it works for you. The cost is quite good, and includes a VERY nice feature of being able to recover files that in many cases you thought you had lost forever - it is a personal version of their commercial recovery services that OnTrack orginally was in business doing (they bought Majenic, which was the original developers of the SystemSuite package.) ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
