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Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Leland Charon who wrote (9770)	12/24/1999 11:43:00 AM
From: Greg from Edmonton	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14778

Basically the biggest differences between cable and xDSL, the cable is shared so its performance depends how subscribed it is.... i.e. your download speed will be slower if your neighbors are all surfing the net at the same time. The fact that the cable is shared amongst many can also be a potential security risk, depending on the type of cable modem installed. In many cases, cable modems and the cable network act exactly as a neighborhood LAN, on which anybody with packet sniffer software can view all and any traffic going across the wire. If your browser supports SSL encryption the secure sites (such as banking and on-line ordering) will often encrypt the data so it cannot reasonably be interpreted during that session, but only while your URL starts with "https:" instead of the normal "http:". Bottom line, xDSL has better security and more consistent performance than cable service if cost is not a factor. IMPORTANT NT SECURITY ISSUES: On upgrading from Win98 to NT, there are a few security issues that must be dealt with before NT may be considered even remotely secure. The type of internet connection does not matter. I would recommend the following security measures as a minimum if using Windows NT 4.0: In Start \| Settings \| Control Panel \| Services, making sure that the "Server" service is stopped and does not start will close that vulnerable TCP port 139 and prevent >90% of the Windows NT hacks. I recommend also ensuring that all SNMP services are stopped, along with any un-used or unnecessary services e.g. scheduler. Make sure you have installed Service Pack 5 or greater. If you use ICQ or other internet chat programs, make sure in the Security & Privacy settings that you do not publish your IP address. This may also include not publishing your primary e-mail address in your S.I. profile! Let them PM instead. Having your default administrator username and password as "Administrator" and "Password" is a big no-no. I recommend the following measures for more advanced / paranoid users. For even more security you could do the following: * Install NT in a location specified other than the default. * Install NTFS to enable disk access control permissions. * Baseline, Processes: Be familiar with / keep track of the various typical default processes (using Process Monitor). If you haven't installed anything new and notice the presence of some strange new process (i.e. patch.exe may indicate the presence of NetBus), you may wish to investigate further. * Baseline, Ports: Use Netstat to monitor which ports are exposed, be especially critical of those ports above 1024 that are consistently present. * Baseline, Users: Be aware of your system user accounts and their access rights. Check them once in a while, any radical changes may be cause for alarm. Initiate user policies (e.g. require 6 characters minimum password length and lock out accounts after 4 failed login attempts). As a minimum, log any failed login attempts. The use of strong passwords (alphanumeric character combinations) will make password cracking very difficult, even against a "dictionary"-type attack method. I hope this helps a few people secure their NT systems a bit better. Yes I DID learn a few things in my CIW Security Professional course, in fact I am directing my career towards internet networking and security. Greg

To: Leland Charon who wrote (9770)	12/24/1999 12:15:00 PM
From: Howard R. Hansen	Respond to of 14778

I was wondering if anyone here can comment on the stability of a cable modem vs. that of a DSL line (like SDSL)? I have recently moved and now have a cable modem which I am very happy with but was wondering how stable the bandwidth is as opposed to something like DSL (which isn't available at my new location yet)? First let me say I do not have a cable modem. But I have been monitoring the comp.dcom.modems.cable news group. There has been a lot of discussion over there about cable companies reducing the bandwidth, reducing the maximum download and upload data rates, after the service started. The cable companies provided high data transmission rates when they started but soon found they couldn't provide the same level of service when they got a lot of customers so they throttled back the data transmission rate. Furthermore I am suspicious when cable companies advertise blazing fast downloads but never give any hard specifications. My gut reaction is telephone companies are a lot more believable than cable companies when say they will provide a high data transmission rate. Warning DSL data transmission rates will decrease as the distance from a central office increases. One last issue I have is that of security when it comes to a cable modem. Is there anything I can do to "protect" myself? Maybe install a simple firewall or something? At a minimum make sure file and print sharing for Microsoft Networks is unbound from TCP/IP. To make sure file and print sharing is disabled: From the Control Panel double click on the Network Icon. On the Configuration Pane click TCP/IP. Click the File and Print Sharing button. Make sure the "I want to be able to give others access to my files." and I want to be able to allow others to print on my printer(s)" check boxes are not checked. I will leave it up to others to provide information on software and hardware fire walls.

To: Leland Charon who wrote (9770)	12/24/1999 12:21:00 PM
From: Stuart T	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

Let me add to Greg's reply. As you know, I have ADSL through Ameritech. So far it has been very good. No problems except NT is not supported. I have it running on NT but the speed is like half of what I get from Win98. I have the most recent drivers and e-mailed the company (Efficient). No fix as of yet. I still like it however. GET A FIREWALL PROGRAM. I use BlackICE. networkice.com It has picked a few people trying to hit my system. Not many since the program basically makes you invisable on the net. Go over to the site below and have it check your shields and ports. You will be surprised. grc.com Since you have cable and can't get DSL, you should be very happy that you have something high speed. Anything is better than 56k. As you know, file download speeds are amazing. Have a great holiday.