topic Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working????? in PCs & Accessories

Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

Sabi — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 16:53:59 GMT

I have AOL 9 and Window XP . I have downloaded McAFree and Service Pack 2 recently. However at the sign on screen the "Firewall¿ shows ¿not Detected"!:smileyconfused:

Is this something I should be worried about?? I believe the "Windows Firewall" was downloaded through SP2 . I have checked the ¿on" button which was ticked. I also checked the ¿Advance¿ options in there which showed that ¿Aol¿, ¿Aol Diagnostic Test¿ and ¿Local Area connection¿ were all ticked (enabled)

I also looked in Admin Tool ¿ Service and found that both Firewalls are in "automatic" start up and "started" status. However under the "Description" column, McAFree is ¿blank¿ and Windows Firewall is ¿provides n...¿ what ever that means.

All I want to know is; are these Firewalls working, if not what more do I need to do to activate them??:smileyconfused:

Many thanks

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

rich912 — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 17:17:47 GMT

I have no idea on your particular configuration, but Symantec do a free on-line security check which should indicate whether you firewalls are functioning.

Security Check

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

robpaxton — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 17:18:43 GMT

The Windows XP firewall provides only basic protection. You would be better off downloading & installing ZoneAlarm free from www.zonelabs.com

You can test your firewalls security at GRC - select the 'Shields Up' link near the bottom of the page and follow the instructions . . .

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

Sabi — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 18:07:39 GMT

Thanks Rich, thanks Rob;

I am more worried than before!!!:smileyshocked:
I just run the Symantec check; everything was OK except Antivirus product which came up as ¿at risk¿!!!! Apparently I don¿t have any!!! When in fact I know I do because I¿ve downloaded Antivir software a few days ago and caught many viruses with it!

The AOL, sign on screen also shows the Anti-virus software is "Running" !! so what is going on and why Symantec check has failed Antivir in my PC???????????
If their check up is right then I am constantly at risk of getting a virus!! Even coming on this board

I have to mention one thing though;. As Norton Antivirus was disabled in my PC, I uninstalled it. After that the Antivir umbrella was off, which I opened it from Service in System tools. Do you think that has anything to do with what is happening?

Please help

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

rich912 — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 18:27:28 GMT

I would take Rob¿s advice and download ZoneAlarm, then run the check again. Best to be safe¿.

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

rich912 — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:25:33 GMT

There is always the possibility that you already have a virus that is preventing your anti-virus software from loading. To check this out start up in safe mode and carry out a full virus scan.

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

kee-lo_ — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:37:58 GMT

Cool I passed with flying colours!

* Kee-Lo pats his router

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

rich912 — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:43:45 GMT

Kee-Lo pats his router

Never heard it called that before:smileygrin:

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

kee-lo_ — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:57:48 GMT

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

Sabi — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 20:10:06 GMT

Well I run the check for "File Sharing" and "Common Ports" with "Shields Up" as Rob kindly suggested (thanks Rob ) it has passed the TruStealth Analysis!

And this is what it says which I need help to understand it

In the other part it says

The Summary shows:
0 ports open, 0 ports closed, 26 ports Stealth

So does that mean my Firewalls and Antivir are active and working? I am still confused

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

rich912 — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 20:15:32 GMT

That means that your firewalls are operating properly, but says nothing about your anti-virus.

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

kee-lo_ — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 20:57:55 GMT

Thats a good thing that port 139 doesn;t show up.

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

Sabi — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 21:28:03 GMT

I still don't know if the Antivir is working in my PC or not !!

May be these Free Antivirus downloads don't work very well, so I might be better off to buy a good Antivirus software soon
Any ideas what to to buy?

I scanned the PC with Ad-Aware today, during which ¿Antivir¿ popped up! Wanting to know what to do with newly found "Troj. virus¿? I noticed the location was -system volume- or something
I clicked on delete, it didn't work, I then sent it to Quarantine which I deleted it after. Now there is no volume in my system!!!!:smileycry:
Does anyone know how I can get it back?????

Thanks guys

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

kee-lo_ — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 21:37:55 GMT

Sabi,

There's Panda AntiVirus 7 and at £15 it's not a bad piece of software.

Sophos is the best, but the price of it isn't

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

Sabi — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 22:04:10 GMT

Thanks Kee-lo

Do you know if ¿Panda Antivirus" is available in the shops?

What about my "volume" do you know how I can get it back?
It is not working when I am on line I don't hear AOL greeting or anything like that. I have checked the "Sound and Audio Devices Properties", the Sound Scheme window is blank
When I drop the menu, there are several Window defaults i.e. Window 3, default 2 etc.

Thanks again [:">]

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

rich912 — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 22:11:06 GMT

What about my "volume" do you know how I can get it back?

It may be worth trying a system restore to a point prior to deleting the quarantined item.

On reflection this may not be such a good idea as you could reload the virus/trojan. Is Device Manager showing up any problems?

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

itbroker — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 10:52:25 GMT

I just run the Symantec check; everything was OK except Antivirus product which came up as ¿at risk¿!!!!

This normally hapen because you need run the antivirus again, after this, the status from AT Risk will be change to OK.

I got this at my computer with the latest Norton Antivirus.

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

seb21__ — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 13:04:23 GMT

I think this is a little bit suspect

"Shields UP" find nothing about my Computer (all stealth)

the "symantec check" works only with the IExplorer.

It's useless when I make a security check with the IExplorer if I use normally Firefox.

the "security scan" from Sygate showed that some Ports are closed.
The UDP ports 111, 135, 137, 138 and 139 are open.
No port is stealth!

here is the Link to the Sygate scan:

http://scan.sygate.com/

Re: Are the Firewalls in my computer working?????

kee-lo_ — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 15:42:50 GMT

Hi Sabi,

Probably from PC World, but they're expensive and I have used Amazon for 5 years now without major problems (they've never ripped me off).

Seb: Good point, Sygate are good though.