hi, i need a good reccomendation for a firewall that'll work with windows me. something that wont let spyware and the lot onto my computer. gotta be low on cpu usage to, and most importantly free
Why not just get Spybot and run the resident shield and immunization? That gets rid of everything related to spyware. And if you run ad-aware SE every week, your computer will be clean enough to eat off it. Because I've tried firewalls and they're a pain in the arse.
No firewall stops spyware. Firewalls stop people getting into your computer. If you don't want spyware, turn off cookies. Of course, this is a MAJOR pain in the arse. You could use cookiewall to block cookies, or you could use Ad-Aware FULL (not the free version) with its TSR function (IMHO ad-aware has always been better than spybot SAD. SSAD finds piddly little things that ad-aware doesn't sometimes - sometimes in the old version things you shouldn't remove! Ad-aware finds major things that SSAD doesn't). Oh, and there's no such thing as a good FREE firewall. Zone Alarm is ok-ish. Best off using Ad-Aware daily, and if it bothers you, cookiewall. If it really bothers you, install a popup blocker, as that's where any spyware that isn't a cookie will come from most likely. Oh, and don't keep clicking on the popup ads!!! And stay off dodgy sites ;-)
Absolutely. I just ran Ad-aware for the first time since november-ish, and it came up with three cookies. Adware just doesn't exist if you use Firefox (or anything other than ie, for that matter).
Indeed. Firefox rules above all other browsers, and it's very very safe against pop-ups and drive-by installs. Also, check any software you install on your machine. Most of the stuff of the web, especially P2P clients, are spyware primordial soups of sorts.
Indeed, Mr. WolverineDK. Yup. There's a couple of clean apps in the P2P department. There's K-Lite K++, there's WinMX, and a couple others. Still you need some safety to work with those. A good Antivirus, for starters. But those P2P things that DO have spyware... they'll lead you straight to hell.
BearShare comes with spyware, but if you let something like Spybot or Ad-Aware delete that spyware it still works no probs. A bit retarded of them to let this (I remember Kazaa wouldn't), but the good kind of retarded :-D Personally, I use ZoneAlarm with no problems. I didn't find it that hard to set up - only problem is when you get new programs that use the internet, you have to tell it to allow them.
Since you're running WinME I think there's no need for a firewall. As for spyware just follow the advices posted above. Get Spybot/Ad-Aware and use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer and you will be fine. OR if you want to keep using IE then I suggest getting a HOSTS file from here. I'm now using this for a long time and added a few sites to my own HOSTS version. Except for some tracking cookies I never got any spyware while using this and also blocked 99% of advertising without need for external apps. I have only recently switched to Firefox because I really never felt the need (security-wise) to switch browsers. Im running Win98 btw,I dont recomend putting a big HOSTS file in a 2000/XP machine as it can have some weird side effects... Its a good and free alternative for a low end machine, no need to install any extenal apps because the HOSTS fille is part of the OS.
Why wouldn't you need a firewall if you're using WinME? It's commonly regarded as the worst 32-bit Windows around (excluding dodgy first editions), so I assume it's plagued with security holes just like any other MS OS, if not moreso. I had a friend whose PC came with ME, and it got fucked up GOOD from virii. Personally, I'd never recommend anyone use WinME. Windows 2000 is exponentionally better in every way (security, reliability and functionality) and will run fine on any machine that can run ME. The only time I've ever seen BSODs in Win2k are because of dodgy hardware.
I find that 99.9% of worms/viruses (like Blaster) that came out these past 2 years are all NT specific, they took advantage of security holes and bugs in the NT code affecting Windows NT4/2000 and XP. Windows 9x/ME wasnt affected by these, so IMO only 2000/XP users should bother with firewalls. But I agree with you, WinME is crap! :smt043
Didn't know that about the worms, but it does make sense since most firewall-less n00bs are on WinXP these days.
WinME in itself should be considered worse than a regular virus. Sure, it's no longer supported by viruses... but.. Dude! Get either 98SE or 2K, and your computer will run better. I can say that from experience.
yah spybot fixed everything right up. i do have 98se but i just reinstalled everything with the disks that came with this computer, gateway, so i got winme on now. you're right though this is the crashiest os ever. is there a way to have spybot running in the background to prevent crap from getting on my computer. should i run adaware also? i've just started spring semester so i dont have all that much time to reply, even to my own topics heh
yah i need to get ad aware, because well i have one crap thing called dbhelp that comes up the first time i load internet explorer, which i use close program to get rid of then i have to close program ie then reopen it, friggin a, if i could get ahold of the buttknockers making this crap and putting it onto my computer which i have to then fix all the time... oh boy.. do you think reverting to 98se from millenium would help out?
