Mr.Mark, I couldn't agree more with your post. I learned that my "little personal computer" was indeed a target some years ago, which cost me a new hard drive. Since installing zonealarm on both computers, I've had no further problems. I still run them through symantec.com every now and then just to be sure. Because I'm feisty and want to do my part in trying to end these attackers, I've also downloaded the program from www.samspade.com, and if I get repeated alerts with the same IP, I run the numbers through samspade and have even reported a few offenders, although with the spoofing going on these days, I'm sure reporting isn't doing much good. The only problem I have with the newer version of ZA, is that you can't copy/paste the numbers.
The DOS (and DDOS) attacks, if they're allowed to continue, can eventually knock off a whole net, preventing regular users to get online. Without a proper firewall, we can each become one of these people.
Sorry to be so long winded about this, but it's important for people, especially newbies, to understand that there *are* people out there who's mission in life is to clog up the internet. Your computer is important to them because as you unwittingly become part of the "chain", it helps them in their sick mission.
I'm told that there's also an excellent firewall at agnitum.com and a great cleaner at moosoft.com, but I haven't checked them out yet. I know that even with a firewall, a computer can still be packeted or backdoored, so I figure two firewalls might be the way to go, as long as they don't conflict.
I also check "running tasks" and "startup programs" on my computer fairly regularly. It's a great way, if you don't have the time to get your computer scanned through symantec, or some other program, to see if there's something running that shouldn't be there. Call me over-protective, but I'm just not prepared to get another new hard drive and start from scratch.
Okay...I also have a problem I'm hoping someone can help me with. It seems so trivial compared to hack attempts.
For the last several weeks my browser (Netscape) keeps giving me the message "connection reset by peer". Although it doesn't knock me offline, it does slow down my homepage which refreshes a couple of times an hour and which I keep up 24/7. So I switched back to IE which, to me anyway, isn't as user friendly.
One feature I liked about Netscape is that I didn't have to keep my mail program open. I was able to set it up so that Netscape alerts me when I have mail and I could retrieve it either through Netscape or Outlook.
I'm having trouble figuring out how to do this with IE, if it in fact can be done. Does anyone know?
Thanks...and again, sorry for being so long winded.
Regards,
Siber |
