[ale] [OT and sorry] - M$ patches and security advice?

[BruceG]

On Thursday 11 September 2003 10:46, J.M. Taylor wrote:
> Thanks. Some questions...
>
> > 2.    I also recommend that every Windows client machine have installed
> > locally both a virus scanner and a personal firewall product.
>
> A personal firewall product...like a software fw on the windows box
> (ipchains for windows??)...isn't there one called Black Ice?  Or do you
> mean a fw appliance like a linksys cablemodem fw/router?  Or both? :)  For
> my Linux stuff, I have a fw appliance and then each machine runs iptables,
> which is probably what I'd recommend to these folks (or anyone).
>
> How hard are the personal fw products to install and configure properly?
> IE - is it pretty brain-dead to install it and have it run with decent
> default settings, or is it going to leave RPC ports open by default?
>
> Many thanks
> jenn
>

As far as anti-virus software goes, Grisoft makes a free version for home use. 
I use Norton on my work laptop and my wife's laptop. I am trying out Grisoft 
free version on my dual-boot desktop. But then I don't care if Windows gets 
nuked on that particular machine anyway ;-)

Grisoft was simply to download and install. It runs in the background and 
updates automatically. Scheduling scans was simple as well.