John, JDH> For outgoing protection: Norton Anti-Virus.
JDH> For general protection, a *hardware* firewall built into my LAN JDH> router, as well as the firewall built into Windows XP. I don't run Norton antivirus, but I don't believe it protects against outgoing connections. It can scan for a virus on your system or to see if there is one in an outbound Email(?) which is good, but that doesn't protect against a virus that has snuck through the defenses (such as a new one could before you get Norton updated). Tiny will catch ANY new program that tries to make an outbound connection. After using it for a period of time, the "false alarms" are almost non-existent. It just needs to be trained that it's ok to let that newly installed program make a connection is all. If you haven't installed anything lately then there is a problem if it goes off. I run a hardware firewall here as well and unless you have a high dollar one (which I don't... $100 usd) then it protects the INBOUND connection only. It helps you *keep* what is on the outside...out there. That's about it. This is also a help, but not in regards to the outbound connection. The firewall in WinXP is also for inbound only. It's one of those "feel good" things that Bill tosses in so people won't mind spending big bucks to upgrade to the latest and greatest OS. I like WinXP as an OS but the built in firewall is trash IMHO. I try to keep my system here setup correctly, but I make mistakes from time to time. I don't think anyone is perfect, are they? I want a reliable backup system that I trust for when I do make those mistakes. That's my reasoning behind what I do. -- Scott Using The Bat! v1.61 on Windows XP 5.1 Build 2600 Service Pack 1 ________________________________________________ Current version is 1.61 | "Using TBUDL" information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
