Spyware

[atxgun]

I run AdAware SE and Spybot S&D on my daughter's XP computer, especially since she likes to visit myspace (which is rife with malware).

A small point of clarification is myspce doesn't directly host the malware but it is rife with links to 3rd party sites which will mess you up. If you're "lucky" it will just be a an impersonation site to phish out your login info w/ a phony login screen.

If you can teach your daughter to be very cautious that it says "myspace.com/...whatever" in the address bar and not "myspace.com.xyz.ru/.." or something like that. Then w/ your account set to require knowledge of your email address to request you as a friend and require captchas for people that want to send you messages you can weed out most of the spam. And oh yeah, make sure she doesn't use the same password for myspace as she does for email, bank logins etc. Just an extra level of protection if you do unwittingly hand over your credentials

[Kalrog]

Kalrog, or you could ditch MSSQL and go w/ MySQL

I have (and will continue to) use MySQL where it is appropriate to do so. But in this case it really is NOT an appropriate solution. At least MySQL can actually be a database now instead of just a fast file system like it used to be.

Seriously, the product that my company produces has been built around SQL Server 2005. Not even 2000 would work for it. I'm hoping 2008 has some fixes for the bugs that we found in things like the service broker and the CLR.

[WildBill]

What about recommendations for a firewall?

[Kalrog]

What about recommendations for a firewall?

Hardware if you can do it. I liked SnapGear when they were in business. A nice (simple) linux device like that works great. Make sure it is properly configured and you will take care of 99% of what you would with a software firewall. And many things that the software one won't. Of course there are some things that a software one will do better, but on the whole I don't see the need for both. Some people do.

[atxgun]

What about recommendations for a firewall?

Which OS?

[WildBill]

Windows XP

[KBCraig]

Windows XP

Then by all means, external hardware firewall.

I assume you have a router? That's most likely also a firewall; check your docs on how to configure and administer it.

[WildBill]

Nope, no router. Just DSL plugged into the modem.

[Kalrog]

Nope, no router. Just DSL plugged into the modem.

Holy crap! Get that thing unplugged RIGHT NOW. Go get a hardware firewall (router) from the store and use it. At this point it doesn't even matter all that much which one. Something with NAT at least, but SPI would be better.

NAT = Network Address Translation (it works as a firewall, but isn't a full/true firewall. Much better than nothing - maybe 80% effective)
SPI = Stateful Packet Inspection (This is a true firewall. Maybe 95% effective)

Both assume properly set up. Good brands for the home user are Linksys, Netgear, Belkin. There are many other good ones out there as well though.

[WildBill]

I do have a Norton software firewall. I was just checking on hardware and/or new software. Thanks for your suggestions. I have read some mixed reviews about the Linksys. I am just trying to sort everything out before buying something.

[Kalrog]

I do have a Norton software firewall. I was just checking on hardware and/or new software. Thanks for your suggestions. I have read some mixed reviews about the Linksys. I am just trying to sort everything out before buying something.

Ignore my initial reaction then... you DO have a firewall running. I feel better.

If you are interested in learning Linux, you can set up a very good firewall by running another computer and making it a dedicated firewall. Or you could go the appliance route. Check out the following for information - they were good when I was looking a few years back.
http://www.firewallguide.com/

[atxgun]

Or if you guys want to go all out:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/ ... index.html

[WildBill]

Or if you guys want to go all out:

Yeah and how many guns could I buy instead!

[atxgun]

Or if you guys want to go all out:

Yeah and how many guns could I buy instead!

You could get an armory going, i think that thing goes for around $20k.

[WarHawk-AVG]

Or if you guys want to go all out:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/ ... index.html

Actually there is a cheaper deal out called SmoothWall Express which is a linux distro that turns an old computer into the eqivalent of a Cisco PIX...it works very well actually!