**Important Technical Suggestion***
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TV ClubHouse: Archive: All Things Technical for BB 2003 (computer stuff): **Important Technical Suggestion***

Draheid

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 06:39 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Regarding the current virus/worm problem rampant on the internet over the last couple of days, for anyone else not yet affected by this I STRONGLY urge you to install a firewall on your computer. You can get an excellent FREE firewall by Clicking Here to download ZoneAlarm from ZoneLabs. After you have downloaded and saved this file, run it and follow the prompts to install.

The problem people are having is both a vulnerability in Windows AND the open ports exposed to the interenet where this exploit is being done. A firewall such as Zonealarm should prevent that from happening by closing those ports from being accessed.

Hope this helps.

Edit to add: You will still need to apply the appropriate patch to your system. Please go HERE to view instructions and download the patch.

Draheid

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 06:56 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Anyone wanting to see if they are vulnerable to the current virus/worm attacks,
Click Here
and then click on the link text ShieldsUP Port Probe test to find out

Wendo

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 09:52 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Draheid, my computers are behind a Linksys 8-port cable/dsl router. When I ran the ShieldsUP Port Probe test, it said my port was "stealth". Does that mean everything is ok??? It didn't say open nor closed.

Thought you may know for sure. I'm assuming I'm ok, but you're definitely THE computer guru! :)

Draheid

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 10:20 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Wendo: Stealth is the best it can be - it basically is telling NOTHING about your connection. In fact, those that say closed are actually saying "there is a computer here but you can't have access" whereas stealth might as well mean there is absolutely nothing connected. (I think there is an even better explanation on that site if you scroll down.)

Hope that helps.

Wendo

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 11:33 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Cool, thanks Draheid. I ran the entire port test and all my ports were shown as stealth (green). That makes me feel pretty good, though I am diligent with my virus software, etc. Oh, and I have installed the patch too.

Thanks for the heads up.

Tobor7

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:29 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Now, why isn't this security patch added to the Windows Update. I just did the update and there is nothing MS says I need. So... does that mean what?? The date on the patch is July. Maybe I've already loaded it? They really expect me to check all the file versions? They can't have the Update utility do that?
Just another sloppy situation waiting to become a problem.

Tobor7

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 12:42 am EditMoveDeleteIP
So... I decide to suck it up and read the whole thing MS posted. Check the files... check the reg entries... etc. I guess I don't have the update yet. So I download the file... run it and the first thing it says is... before you do this update... backup your system.

And that's another thing I'll have to put off till another day. The backup drive isn't set up yet. Plus backing up 70GB of data takes a while.
THEY GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!

Indybarb

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 04:44 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Dra.... I downloaded the firewall, and went to do the patch, but don't know what to download... i hav windows 98 what is that counted as? thanks

Draheid

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 04:58 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Indybarb: Win/98 does not require a patch as it does not have the same vulnerability that later versions of Windows have. The firewall is still a very good idea.

Hope that helps.

Indybarb

Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 05:03 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
yes, it does... and thanks again