i am getting ready to switch some stuff out on my computer-but I'm

[miss_kitty]

scared:scared:

I have a Gateway Profile 4, run Windows XP Pro. No upgrade to SP2. I have NAV 2004, ZAPro 4, No upgrade to ZAPro5. I have AdAware, Spybot and just got rid of Spyware Sweeper in favour of SpywareBlaster.

Here's the deal: I am thinking of (and have the fresh software for) NAV 2005 w/ the NAV firewall and here's why.

While I have loved ZA, it is majorly sucky on my box. I have a somewhat unstable system (Been reloaded by me and the pros several times) and I pretty much have traced the problem to ZA-which they totally deny. I have had many BSOD incidents, and the event log almost ALWAYS lists ZA as the program in error. When I tried to download ZAPro 5, it wrecked my .dll files for NVidia, WMP and ZA and NAV. They denied it to my face, then sent out a mass email two weeks later telling everyone who had problems with that download to retry the upgrade. Not. Upgrading. ZA Again. So I am on the 4.0 version, which I don't consider safe.

I think what saves me is I use Firefox and pretty much disabled most of the networky bullshit on my box. And closed many of thee ports that my Internets usage does not employ.

So does anyone have any feedback on the NAV firewall? I know to uninstall ZA before I do a new firewall. Is there a better firewall to use?

[Berserker]

1. I will

not give good advice on Norton since I think it's a recourse hog and costs money. I have tried it and do not like the product. It completely takes over your computer and it's almost impossible to delete. And I won't mention all the false positives it gives. So having said that I also have had a problem with ZA like you are having. I now use Kerio Personal Firewall and I think it works great. And it's free
http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_home.html

[Jersey Devil]

3. Is is true that if you use a router you do not need a firewall?

A buddy of mine keeps telling me that. Since I do use a router for my home network I took down the firewall, went to several security testing sites and they all say I am safe. It would seem my friend is right but I have no idea why, unless the router itself has a firewall built in.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

4. Your router has a firewall built in

The common term is "hardware firewall". The thing is, however, you may need to specifically activate it and/or configure it. Consult your handbook on how to do so, and if it's on or off by default.

Your router is the only IP address the world sees- your computers behind it are basically invisible, unless a DMZ ("demilitarized zone" - sometimes called "pinhole") is configured. That's always off by default- you only set that up if you want to run a FTP server or something like that.

[miss_kitty]

6. Kerio eh? I'll look into it

Once, after I had reformatted 3 times-I had them come take away my computer, and the brought me one they said was the same and it wasn't. I cried myself to sleep that night and they reloaded mine and brought it back. The reason I bring this up is the substitute I had for 4 days had the NAV package on it, and I thought it sucked, but I thought that was me hating the look-alike, the pretender.

[hobbit709]

2. I've had no problems

with ZA but then you couldn't pay me enough to use XP(Gestapoware).

[miss_kitty]

5. I don't own my computer. My State does.

The choice was not mine. I had so much trouble at the beginning. I had no knowledge whatsoever about computers two years ago. OK. PCs. And I am a little gifted in the mechanical reasoning dept, so I catch on quickly.

I have deleted some MS spyware with no ill effects. I am thinking, next time I have to reformat, doing something else, like Linux on the partition thinger? I don't know what I'm talking about-but I've seen people talk about it here. I fly by the seat of my pants here, don't mind trying new stuff, I think the more I can learn, the better that is.

But I'd rather mess around on a clean slate-that way if I totally f something up, It's easier to go back and start all over again.

And I used to like ZA a lot-there seems to be a compatibility issue on my box.