which firewall is the best ?

[Deep]

I use my all time fav Norton Internet Security..

no problems at all :d

Deep

 

[mariner]

well guys i m still waiting for ur responses on hjow to close ports 21,23 and port 80 as these seem to be the trouble makers.

 

[Deep]

well guys i m still waiting for ur responses on hjow to close ports 21,23 and port 80 as these seem to be the trouble makers.

atually this test will work properly only if you ave Public IP, i.e. with IPs other than 172.16.x.x, 10.x.x.x,172.168.x.x

anyways to cross check these ports... do this..

in IE write this

For Port 80: *127.0.0.1/
For Port 21: ftp://127.0.0.1

for Port 23

Start - Run - Telnet

in the new window write o 127.0.0.1 it should not show

"Connecting To 127.0.0.1...Could not open connection to the host, on port 23: Connect failed"

if it shows above message then it means you dont have port 23 open..

and for port 80 it should say page cannot be found or something..
21 should say something like unable to connect..

lemme know what happens after u do above things..

Deep

 

[rock_ya_baby]

well guys i m still waiting for ur responses on hjow to close ports 21,23 and port 80 as these seem to be the trouble makers.

You can easily do that using a firewall..

If you dont have / want to use it then you can try > portblocker

Just run it, it automatically blocks the ports that u've mentioned (by default)

 

[anishcool]

Hey i am using sygate (v 5.5, build 2156) with the latest updates and avg. If you keep updating your firewall just like ur antivirus it will work much better. By the way zonealarm is crap as the free edition takes too much system resources and has a very childish and non-geeky interface. if you can pay Rs.1500 mcafee is great. norton is not bad as well but just too expensive.

 

[mariner]

ok guys i got the following from symantec today

How to close ports that should not be open

Situation:
You ran Symantec Security Check or a similar type of security scanning tool and the results indicate that certain "well known" ports are open. "Well known" ports can include any port from 0 to 1023, but the most commonly used ports are 23, 25, 80, and 110.

Solution:
"Well-known" ports are generally reserved for services such as email, Web services, Internet protocols, and so forth. If a security scanner indicates that some of these ports are open and you are not running services related to those ports, then an unknown process - like a Trojan - may be running on your computer.

To correct this situation, run the current version of an antivirus program to detect and eliminate the Trojan, and then install Norton Internet Security or Personal Firewall and re-scan your computer to confirm that the suspect port is now closed.

The following table identifies ports that should not be open unless you are running services (servers) relating to them. If any of these ports are reported as being open, then a component of a service or server may be running on your computer. An example of a service or server component running on your computer is INETINFO.EXE from Microsoft. This component is used to run the Personal Web Server feature of Windows.

Port Service Type of Server Description
23 Telnet telnet server allows another computer to log into yours
25 SMTP mail server email protocol that sends mail out
80 HTTP web server web protocol
110 POP mail server email protocol that receives mail

To determine if INETINFO.EXE is running on your computer, follow one of these procedures:

Windows 95/98/ME/XP

Click Start then Run.
Type MSCONFIG in Open box.
Click OK or press the Enter key. The System Configuration Utility screen will appear.
Select the Startup tab.
See if INETINFO.EXE is running. If you do not need this feature running, uncheck the box then click OK. Reboot your computer and run Symantec Security Check again.

Windows NT/2000
Open the Task Manager by right clicking the Task Bar.
Select Task Manager.
Click the Processes tab.
See if INETINFO.EXE is running. If you do not need this feature running, you must remove the Internet Information Services (IIS) feature from the Add/Remove Windows Components in the Control Panel.

going to try out the same and will post results

 

[Deep]

u shall read what i had said in my post..

regards
Deep

 

[mariner]

ok deep i did what u said and got the following results

port 80 : cannot be found
port 21 : windows cannot access this folder.make sure u have typed the file name correctly and u have the permission to access this folder
details: a connection with the server cannot be established
port 23 :connecting to 127.0.0.1....cud not open connection to the host,on port 23 connect failed.

ok so tell me
1.does it mean that my pc is safe ?
2.and if it so than why do symantec and shields up tell me that my pc is at
gr8 risk?

 

[Ashis]

zone alarm is the best .. but it eats up a lot of resources

u can opt for other options like

tiny firewall
sygate firewall
norton internet security
..[/quote]

I have Used Zone Alarm & I find it slows down the net speed!

 

[Deep]

ok deep i did what u said and got the following results

port 80 : cannot be found
port 21 : windows cannot access this folder.make sure u have typed the file name correctly and u have the permission to access this folder
details: a connection with the server cannot be established
port 23 :connecting to 127.0.0.1....cud not open connection to the host,on port 23 connect failed.

ok so tell me
1.does it mean that my pc is safe ?
2.and if it so than why do symantec and shields up tell me that my pc is at
gr8 risk?

it means that these ports are already blocked on ur machine..
the reason why norton showing those ports open coz it was checking the IP address of your ISP not yours..

you must have having IP address with 172.16.xx or 10.x.xx.xx or 192.168.xx.xx

to cross check it

start - run - command - write ipconfig

it should show ur ip address

and then go to www.whatismyip.com

it should show the IP address of your ISP..if both are same then you have public IP and otherwise your IP address is private..

about ur 2nd question...
answer is in my above explanation...it's chekcing ur ISP's IP address..no need to worry..install firewall like Norton Internet Security or any other u prefer..shall solve your problem

Deep

 

[mariner]

pk deep thanks a ton for ur help.my ip does start with 192.xxx.......

so if my isp's ip is being checked and the ports r found open then
will it effect my pc ?

i think i will stick to sygate PF for some time and change to another
when i upgrade in early next yr.

many thanx

 

[anishcool]

yup thats right deep. most of the ISP's like sancharnet provide public ip's. ok does anyone know where to report hackers? Using the built in Whios utility in Sygate i got down to a site who was port scanning my comp. I really want to destroy them. Any answers ?

 

[pantheratigris]

Norton Internet Security

 

[aadipa]

Using the built in Whios utility in Sygate i got down to a site who was port scanning my comp. I really want to destroy them. Any answers ?

NOT ALL PORT SCANS ARE HACKING ATTEPTS

 

[Deep]

Using the built in Whios utility in Sygate i got down to a site who was port scanning my comp. I really want to destroy them. Any answers ?

NOT ALL PORT SCANS ARE HACKING ATTEPTS

yup totally agree with aadipa..

first findout the port number and google for port number and see what could be the reason..

do some search like this...

your port number + hack or your port number + spyware etc..

Regards
Deep

 

[vswizard]

Kerio Rocks.. and is the best one around

 

[anishcool]

thanx a lot i did find out the site through google. ok is there any way u can block all the ports on ur comp(i use sygate)does sygate block all the ports and secure the pc ?

 

[bhalchandra]

hey man if u r going for zone alarm then make sure u have 512 MB of memory because pc will die on 128 mb as it very much resorce hungry
Otherwise go for mcafee personel firewall
njoy...............

 

[mariner]

yes with lots of help from deep n other guys i found out that my sygate PF is really doing a gr8 job.

so i think anish it shuid be doin the same for u .

Sygate the best

 

[Deep]

thanx a lot i did find out the site through google. ok is there any way u can block all the ports on ur comp(i use sygate)does sygate block all the ports and secure the pc ?

actually u really cant block all the ports...coz some services require certain ports to be opened...

so no need to worry about the ports unless you find something suspicious things going on..

for better security..check ur machine in every 15 days with Ad-Aware and may be virus scan once a month..

Regards
Deep