-- Posted by Fender at 4:30 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Hey, i've been using a firewall with my antivirus for about 2 years now, but my friend seems to think im paranoid, and firewalls are an unnecessary precaution. Do you use a firewall or do you think they are not needed for home use? -- Posted by Psycho Chicken at 4:33 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Of course I do. Who the hell wouldn't! Your friend is being stupid. -- Posted by Forgotten370 at 4:37 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Quote: from Psycho Chicken at 12:33 pm on Mar. 21, 2006 Of course I do. Who the hell wouldn't! Your friend is being stupid. **ding ding ding** correct answer   -- Posted by AnonymousIsGood at 4:38 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Firewalls are very necesary if you have a direct connection to the internet, (dialup or direct cable or dsl).  As for me I have a home network that connects through a router to the internet.  The router only allows messages to come in if I start the conversation (eg if I ask for a webpage).  It's called network address translation.  Now with that I have not had a firewall on my computer for moths and had nothing.  But it's still a good idea regardless.  Afterall, what's the downside? -- Posted by pleaseremove at 4:38 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Quote: from Fender at 12:30 pm on Mar. 21, 2006 Hey, i've been using a firewall with my antivirus for about 2 years now, but my friend seems to think im paranoid, and firewalls are an unnecessary precaution. Do you use a firewall or do you think they are not needed for home use? They are becoming more and more important now. A few years ago you would have been ok without one, but now they are almost as important as antivirus. Don't forget that windows XP has a built-oin firewall anyway, so i expect your friend is running one without knowing it. Although the one in XP is a start, it is really better to get something a bit stronger. -- Posted by pleaseremove at 4:41 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Quote: from AnonymousIsGood at 12:38 pm on Mar. 21, 2006 Firewalls are very necesary if you have a direct connection to the internet, (dialup or direct cable or dsl).  As for me I have a home network that connects through a router to the internet.  The router only allows messages to come in if I start the conversation (eg if I ask for a webpage).  It's called network address translation.  Now with that I have not had a firewall on my computer for moths and had nothing.  But it's still a good idea regardless.  Afterall, what's the downside? NAT only works one way remember. If you have some form of spy-ware on your computer and it talks to the outside world then not only will the NAT let it, but it will also let it talk back to your machine. -- Posted by AnonymousIsGood at 4:45 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Quote: from pleaseremove at 4:41 am on Mar. 21, 2006 NAT only works one way remember. If you have some form of spy-ware on your computer and it talks to the outside world then not only will the NAT let it, but it will also let it talk back to your machine. Ya, that's why I have one now, but for months I was brousing and got nothing with no firewall.  In theory, if you scanned everything comming in with an up-to-date scanner you shouldn't have anything on your computer should you?  But I agree necesary precaution. -- Posted by pleaseremove at 4:56 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Quote: from AnonymousIsGood at 12:45 pm on Mar. 21, 2006 Quote: from pleaseremove at 4:41 am on Mar. 21, 2006 NAT only works one way remember. If you have some form of spy-ware on your computer and it talks to the outside world then not only will the NAT let it, but it will also let it talk back to your machine. Ya, that's why I have one now, but for months I was brousing and got nothing with no firewall.  In theory, if you scanned everything comming in with an up-to-date scanner you shouldn't have anything on your computer should you?  But I agree necesary precaution. That only works if your antivirus supplier is ahead of your virus/spyware makers. -- Posted by Psycho Chicken at 5:12 am on Mar. 21, 2006 Quote: from Forgotten370 at 8:37 pm on Mar. 21, 2006 Quote: from Psycho Chicken at 12:33 pm on Mar. 21, 2006 Of course I do. Who the hell wouldn't! Your friend is being stupid. **ding ding ding** correct answer   Yay!!! Do I win anything?   -- Posted by Enzeru at 6:07 am on Mar. 21, 2006 I use a firewall, my Dad is always upgrading anything whenever he can. -- Posted by Rhapsody at 2:08 pm on Mar. 21, 2006 Yeah I have a firewall. And in a case like this it is better to be paranoid and get the best protection and not have any at all. -- Posted by vitamin at 4:03 am on Mar. 22, 2006 I have both a hardware and a software based firewall. I never have any trouble with anything. Seems to do a good Job -- Posted by Uncle Howie at 8:13 am on Mar. 22, 2006 I use a software firewall (the standard Windows XP one) but no hardware firewall. -- Posted by squirellplayingtag at 4:18 pm on Mar. 22, 2006 I have a hardware firewall on my router, my server and Linux desktop uses IP tables, winXP is just the builtin one since I don't use it enough anymore to worry about it, and my other linux one is bare because the system is so crappy it's just used for looking at website and never anything secure. -- Posted by kokomo at 8:15 pm on Mar. 27, 2006 yes i used one -- Posted by Larmour at 11:17 am on April 24, 2006 Zonealarm, not pro, I had it and it was too secure. It locked my whole PC down to protect itself LOL! Fucked my IE also, but I don't use it anymore :D -- Posted by bi sexual babe at 7:43 am on April 25, 2006 yes i do -- Posted by Napster the Hacker at 3:59 am on May 2, 2006 Yeah Im using a firewall (Edited by Napster the Hacker at 4:00 am on May 2, 2006) -- Posted by mOO mOO at 9:31 am on May 3, 2006 yeah i think so -- Posted by obvious child at 11:49 pm on May 16, 2006 Quote: from Larmour at 11:17 am on April 24, 2006 Zonealarm, not pro, I had it and it was too secure. It locked my whole PC down to protect itself LOL! Fucked my IE also, but I don't use it anymore :D Zonealarm has problems. I stopped using that after it went into paranoid mode and locked everything done. Sygate is pretty good. Plus you can backtrace whoever is scanning you and you can scan them. Basically its a "Hey bitch, I know where you live." -- Posted by Stormblazer at 5:34 pm on May 31, 2006 I probably SHOULD. But I am behind two NAT routers (a DSL modem followed by a wireless router), and although I know that's not as effective as a true firewall, it still blocks most of the dangers of a completely open connection. In any case, yes you should use one. As for the concerns about viruses... well user discretion blocks the vast, vast, vast majority of those. A firewall is really more to keep people (aka malicious hackers and the like) out, not viruses so much. -- Posted by Crazy Chick at 12:18 pm on June 3, 2006 Yeah i use one -- Posted by holysaiyan1 at 12:18 pm on June 3, 2006 Being connected without using a firewall is like having unprotected sex with every single person on the Internet.  At once.