Heartland

OK, totally non Sisters related, but would appreciate any recommendations on firewall software to avoid the current invasions of privacy I seem to be having via the web....well p*ssed off !
Is it just me or has it got worse of late? And to finish on a happy note, it all seems to be links to americhan (sic) sites I have received without asking for them...must be the land of the free indeed....anyway, enough links and offers of viagra and bigger boobs than I can cope with - merci in advance comrades.......

Kerio personal firewall

brilliant, and free, and better than zonealarm

www.kerio.com

Zuma wrote:And to finish on a happy note, it all seems to be links to americhan (sic) sites I have received without asking for them...must be the land of the free indeed....anyway, enough links and offers of viagra and bigger boobs than I can cope with - merci in advance comrades.......

Sounds like you're wanting to stop spam emails (or popups)?? A firewall is no use for stopping either of those.

Thanks, will give it a go...!
I know I cant stop the pop ups, but recently had my Outlook
"upgraded" and a new front page added without my consent...

Almost at the point of reinstalling the OS - grrr...

have a look at http://www.adware.info/

and download this http://www.lavasoft.de/

OK folks, here are my two ZA cents. I work for an ISP so hopefully some of it should help.

Firstly do a windows update, then do them regularly, this gets rid of a whole lot of problems.

Zuma, like Dan said it looks like your problem is more spam than firewall related. I would suggest looking at anti-spam software, I can't recommend a specific brand as I've never had cause to use it. They operate in several different ways and all have varying degrees of success. You can try to bitch at your ISP and ask them to try some anti-spam filters but most are reluctant to put filters in place as the line between one man's spam and another info is very grey.

There is also software that'll stop pop-ups, currently I'm using an IE add-on called Avant Browser, which among loads of other things, allows you to block pop-ups: http://www.avantbrowser.com

Then to get rid of spyware try Ad-aware 6 from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ and run it everytime you install some dodgy software (like Avant Browser).

I can't recommend a good personal firewall as I have no personal experience with them, I just have a very old Linux box dedicated to the job.

Also consider using an e-mail client that isn't Microsoft based. Most scumware is aimed at holes in Outlook security, so by changing e-mail clients you stop a whole lot of potential threats.

Anything else?

Thanks all, will load the adware and firewall kit...

now, hows about a cure for the common cold?

@ Zuma - I just cant believe that you don't want bigger boobs ....

Black Dahlia wrote:@ Zuma - I just cant believe that you don't want bigger boobs ....

LOL, not so sure they would fit with the current look.....

Zuma wrote:

Black Dahlia wrote:@ Zuma - I just cant believe that you don't want bigger boobs ....

LOL, not so sure they would fit with the current look.....

4 eyes? 2 mouths? AND large breasts?

Quiff Boy wrote:

Zuma wrote:

Black Dahlia wrote:@ Zuma - I just cant believe that you don't want bigger boobs ....

LOL, not so sure they would fit with the current look.....

4 eyes? 2 mouths? AND large breasts?

@ Q.B - thats Anna Nicole Smith surely?????

OK, time to change that avatar.......

Snub Nose wrote:Dan,

I've started getting pop ups afew months ago on my laptop when
on line. its bloody annoying, but i'm more concerned that there
is something nasty sitting on my pc invading my privacy.

why am i getting pop ups? how can i stop it? any ideas?
Ta.

Like Quiff boy suggested, I'd download Ad Aware from www.lavasoft.de
A lot of downloaded programs contain "spyware", which Ad Aware removes.
For those who don't know, Spyware comes bundled with a lot of downloaded programs, and can do a lot of things, including reporting your surfing activity to "unknown parties", and producing popups. Like for example one of the things spyware can do is if you were on the Radio 1 site it could produce a popup for a rival radio station.

Removing *some* spyware renders the program non-working. Kazaa is one of these, so use the spyware-free alternative Kazaa lite, which has a dummy dll file (clint.dll I think) which when ad aware finds, you must not remove, or the program won't work.

It's a good idea to run ad aware every few weeks, or after you download a new prog, if you like.

A windows update should fix the holes in outlook and explorer.

People with Win2000 and XP have problems with system popups that are sent to your ip with a nasty little thing called netsend, this can be disabled by following the instructions here http://www.lantalk.net/disable_messenger.php

Just wanted to say thanks guys - the B.D household has been plagued with pop- ups and other assorted crap of late. My other half has downloaded your reccommendations and we are now "clean" - no more pop ups and we found 20 different bits of spyware on our machine!

Hopefully he won't complain about me spending so much time on this forum from now on .............

Firewall : Sygate Personal Firewall http://soho.sygate.com/buy/download_buy.htm Free version down at the bottom of the page.

Anti-Virus : AVG http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

Adaware 6 : http://www.lavasoft.de/

Spyware Blaster : http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html

I have Broadband! Yay! be posting shedloads more soon!

I wouldn't recommend AVG. A friend installed it yesterday as they had some viruses they wanted to get rid of. The stupid thing detected them but didn't actually delete them, and whenever they try and use a prog that's infected with a virus it pops up a warning and won't let them use the program. Also, they can't get rid of AVG. They even tried ctrl-alt-del to kill the task but it wasn't on the list!