Firewall/Antivirus

[JEB]

I am quite certain that this is not the correct place to post this request but I am beginning to get a bit desperate.

I have eTrust EZAntivirus on both my desktop m/c’s and their Firewall only on the one I use for PTE and PS etc. I am not aware of any problems associated with the antivirus but I am certain that the Firewall interferes with a number of activities notably when playing PTE shows. All is well if I switch off the firewall, which seams to be defeating the purpose. Both m/c’s are connected to broadband via a router. I remember having similar problems with Norton antivirus in the past on another m/c. In fact when I recently purchased a new laptop, primarily for running PTE shows via my projector, it had Norton installed so the first thing I did was uninstall it as I would rather not put this m/c on the Internet than run the risk of screwing up!

What do you folks do?

Have you had similar problems?

What do you do about Firewalls and Antivirus

I have heard people mention that they use free services but have steered clear of that up till now. What do you think?

Sorry for posting this here but I suspect I am not the only person to have had these experiences.

In desperation,

John

[alrobin]

John,

I use AVG which seems to be pretty unobtrusive, except when it is doing a scan of the system, and then it slows everything down. It is easy to cancel it, however. I am firewalled through my router. A hardware firewall may be the answer for you too, rather than doing it in software.

When I have problems running a show, I shut everything else down, including anti-virus and email, etc. If both your email and internet utilitities are shut down, you should be pretty safe turning off the firewall for a few minutes while you run a show.

[Igor]

We tested with antiviruses AVG, NOD32 - all works fine and don't disturb work of slide-shows.

Also Agnitum Outpost (firewall) works very well on my home PC.

[JEB]

Thank Al

I understood that there was a firewall on the router when I bought it but was convinced by my network provider that it was best to PURCHASE one for the desktop, through them!

That is why I only put it on the one m/c!

John

[Ken Cox]

John

router theory

http://www.cable-modems.org/articles/inter...re_firewall.htm

my xp firewall is turned off

and i use no other

back in 98 days i had zonealarm

and mcafee's

when i got the router a lot of problems i was having went bye bye

when this system was built no firewall

ken

[JEB]

Hi,

Forgive me if I appear to be a bit dim, I am!

My two m/c’s are connected independently to the router and are not networked. I did have them networked at one time but found that it was not worth it in my situation. I am the only user, they are both located side by side and my PTE/PS (PC2) m/c has the scanner and the colour printer connected. It is connected via an Ethernet cable to the router and this is the m/c which presently has the firewall, both have antivirus.

The other m/c (PC1) which I use mainly for e-mail, Internet browsing etc has a small black printer connected to it and is connected to the router via a USB connection.

If I understand you correctly neither m/c requires a firewall as the router is performing that task but both should have antivirus and presumably anti spy ware (why is that not all one product? – another opportunity to get money out of us I presume!).

I would appreciate confirmation but I guess it’s not as simple as that – or is it!

John

PS

About a month ago I took the opportunity to download a Beta version of a new Microsoft product that has been getting a lot of publicity recently (forgotten its name i'm afraid) and that was a disaster. I was not able to open e-mail attachments and it took me hours talking to my Internet provider before we realized what was causing the problem.

[Ken Cox]

John

my 2 systems sit side by side

but i had the router before the 2nd system

i am able to access the internet from both

i am connected via "my network places" NIC card to router

i have one keyboard mouse and monitor and they are connected via a KVM switch

http://www.startech.com/ststore/catlist.cf...tegory=c80&mt=c

both systems identical anti virus anti spyware etc

#1 is my main new system, and my tech cloned it to the #2 system which is less than half the power of the new suystem thus am unable to run ver 5 on it

scanner runs on #1

printer runs on USB on #1 and printer port on #2

i use #2 for weekly mail backup and to test software -i have folders set up to share stuff as needed - i cannot transfer files via icq on #2 and camera is on # 1 - wont run on #2 tho it used to

depending what evil thing i am up to #2 will be doing internet stuff while i am burning dvd's on #1

this is about all i can tell you as my tech did all the brain work

no third party firewall to drain resources or my pocket:)

ken

[Conflow]

John,

Firstly, can you please advise as to what 'Operating System(s)' you are using on your PC's ?

You failed to mention these in your origional 'Posting'

So much depends on the PCs.Operating System(s) and their current 'Upgrades' prior to making any

decision's one way or another as to what (if any) Firewall/Anti-Virus should be installed on a particular PC.

In many circumstances there is 'interaction' between (generic) self-contained Firewalls such as the

'Windows XP-SP.2 Firewall' and external Firewalls and indeed newer versions of Norton (post 2004) can

conflict with recent 'Windows Upgrades' and I might add that Microsoft are well aware of this.

'Hardware Firewalls' are a 1st.line of defense and are by not satisfactory in providing full protection to any PC. Other things must be considered in providing 'non-intrusive' full Protection.

Brian.Conflow.

[nickles]

Hello

Just a few comments. I use ZoneAlarm Firewall and AntiVirus software coupled with a hardware firewall at my router. Don't ever come to the conclusion that a hardware firewall will give you ultimate protection...another subject on another day.

My comment concerns antivirus problems I had on the development of the PTE Jukebox software. The Jukebox is essentially a multi-slideshow within a slideshow. Each time a year button is depressed a slideshow is run for that year. At present there are 31 years and 31 ".exe" slideshows plus the main Jukebox.exe slideshow. I wanted the slideshow to be responsive to button clicks on the year. Unfortunately every time Windows executes a ".exe" file the virus software scans it before allowing Windows to execute it. That takes TIME. This caused a very slow response to button clicks on a year. If I disabled my virus software when running Jukebox it was much more responsive....with no delays.

About six monts ago I got my first virus infection in a W2k system. I was using eTrust EZAntivirus that was supplied free by my SBC Yahoo! DSL provider. Fortunately I maintain a fairly comphensive set of backups of my operating system partition using Ghost...and was able to recover. Each time I recovered I would get re-infected shortly thereafter. I finally downloaded a free copy of ZoneAlarm firewall to assist me in locating the culprit..and guess what? My eTrust EZ Antivirus was going out and retrieving an automatic virus file update and after it installed I had the virus. I don't know exactly what was going on but I suspect a hacker was penetrating my sytem through my hardware firewall and identifying himself as ezTrust. I uninstalled ezTrust and bought ZoneAlarm Pro with firewall, antivirus, spyware,and pop-up blocker and my problems went away...at least for now....sorry wasn't going to cover this...must be another day.

ken

[JEB]

Brian,

I'm using XP Home and regularly let the system upgrade from the M/Soft site.

What prompted all this was (apart from all the problems mentioned earlier) that suddenly today I could not open e-mail attachments and got a message telling me that my EZ subscription was due to be renewed (no notice given - just bang!).

This made me decide that the time was right to make changes.

On the basis of earlier responses I did a search for AVG and NOD32 and found a lot of poss feedback on NOD32 so I have downloaded that to my e-mail m/c (PC1). However I am still getting the same message when trying to open attachments despite the fact that I uninstalled EZ before installing NOD32. As this is beginning to get out of control I think I had better take this up with my Broadband e-mail supplier in the morning. It's almost like they don't want to let me go - or am I just being cynical!

Thanks everybody for your input. I will give your replies thought over the w/e.

John

[Conflow]

Brian,

I'm using XP Home and regularly let the system upgrade from the M/Soft site.

What prompted all this was (apart from all the problems mentioned earlier) that suddenly today I could not open e-mail attachments and got a message telling me that my EZ subscription was due to be renewed (no notice given - just bang!).

This made me decide that the time was right to make changes.

On the basis of earlier responses I did a search for AVG and NOD32 and found a lot of poss feedback on NOD32 so I have downloaded that to my e-mail m/c (PC1). However I am still getting the same message when trying to open attachments despite the fact that I uninstalled EZ before installing NOD32. As this is beginning to get out of control I think I had better take this up with my Broadband e-mail supplier in the morning. It's almost like they don't want to let me go - or am I just being cynical!

Thanks everybody for your input. I will give your replies thought over the w/e.

John

Hi john,

Thanks for the reply. I note you are using XP-Home ~ if this has the full upgrades it will be 'XP-SP2' with the 'Advanced Firewall' ~ I can tell you that you have one of the best "Software Firewalls' in existance. This coupled with your 'Router Hardware Firewall' makes it even better, and if you install 'Grisoft AVG. V7.1' you are litterally bomb-proof !

Your 'Uninstalled EZ Anti-Virus' - Is not fully 'Uninstalled' although you believe it to be so.

1)

Go to your Program Folder, open it - and remove the 'EZ Containing Folder' that's probably still in there.

2)

Also in your Program Folder find a Folder called 'Common Files' and open this. Look for any reference to EZ and delete them, while your're there, take a peek inside the Microsoft Shared Folder and look for EZ, delete if there. Now close the Program Folder.

3)

Next press your Start Button,select-->Search/Find-->Files & Folders-->when it opens-->type in the "Title" of your Anti-Virus and remover every entry with a RH.Click and select delete.

Now you are eventually rid of it ~ by the way Norton is treated in the same way ~ these things are really impossible to remove unless you 'know how'...

Best of Luck with it,

Brian.Conflow.

[JEB]

Brian,

Thanks very much for that, I really do appreciate everybody taking time to respond. As it happens I made contact with a local tech last night and am awaiting his arrival as I type. I hope to put a number of issues to rest by lunch time. On talking to him on the phone he is saying many of the things you good folk have been saying so I grow with confidence with each passing hour!!!

Regards

John

PS I'll post an update later - so watch this space!!!

[JEB]

Hi All,

I am now "bomb proof" to use Brian's expression. My techie arrived this morning and as I think I indicated earlier was on exactly the same wave length as Brian, spent a few hours and sorted out my e-mail, antivirus and firewall problems. Not only that I now have the laptop connected via a wireless connection as well as my two desktops (one via USB and the other via ethernet). Still trying to get access to my printers from each PC but that's not a big issue as I do have access to shared documents.

Thank you all for your help, it's very much appreciated

Regards

John

[Igor]

John,

We solved problem with smoothness of Pan/Zoom effects because of possible high activity of antiviruses/firewall and other background program.

Please try newest beta #3

[JEB]

Thank you Igor for your continued interest.

I have not had any problems since I changed my firewall and antivirus set up.

Regarding Beta 3 I, like some others have been resisting the temptation to get too involved preferring to leave it to others much more able to help evaluate and assist directly in this stage of development.

I have however a number of questions I will post separately once I have gathered my thoughts together.

Thank you for your professional attitude.

Regards

John

[Adda]

Since I have updatet from f-secure 2006 to f-secure 2007, loading an pte-exe-file takes a very, very long time.

When I unload the InternetSecurity it amly takes a very short time to load the files.

Best regards

Andreas

[Igor]

Please write him about this problem.

Try our official demo with slide show:

http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/show/PteShow.zip (12 MB)

Does it also starts long time? If yes, I'll write to them, too.

p.s. I had absolutely another problem with AVG antivirus. After yesterday's update all programs that have tree of folders start on 20 seconds longer. But this problem disappeared itself after a half of a day.

[Ken Cox]

"p.s. I had absolutely another problem with AVG antivirus. After yesterday's update all programs that have tree of folders start on 20 seconds longer. But this problem disappeared itself after a half of a day."

Igor, maybe AVG was updating its database during the day, once updated, things would go to normal again..

are you going to query avg?

ken