Hello (Again) Jagpal,
Yes, you are "vulnerable to a security risk." It's a common misconception
that firewalls are only for/effective if you have a broadband "always on"
connection. Not so. When you're connected to the Internet, you're
vulnerable. Dial-up connections can, and do, come under hack attacks. In the
blink of an eye, a hacker can access your computer or spyware (that you may
not be aware of) on your computer can phone home.
MailWasher, Ad-aware, Anti-Virus, and similar programs, are designed for a
specific purpose and most perform well, but they ARE NOT firewalls. I urge
you (and everyone) to visit Fred Langa's web site
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/feb-14-00.htm and
read The Four Myths Of Online Security. Then go to Steve Gibson's
web site at https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 and run the "Test My Shields!"
and the "Probe My Ports!" tests. That should be the only convincing you
need.
I've used ZoneAlarm (free and Pro version), for years and highly recommend
it http://www.zonealarm.com/. I'm not sure about the current version, but
some previous versions conflicted with AOL and CompuServe (AOL owned), which
is a story in itself, and for those unfortunate folks I recommend Tiny
Personal Firewall
http://www.tinysoftware.com/home/tiny?s=2434114231665845813A1&&pg=tpf_summar
y.
You stated, "No harm has come my way for the last ten years." That would be
more correctly stated as, "No harm has come my way for the last ten years
THAT I'M AWARE OF."
Good luck and happy computing...
Sven Swanson, Sr.
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 06:26:01 -0400
From: "Jagpal S.Tiwana" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Security Risk
I m not using Zone Alarm or any other security software.
my excellent anti spam utilty, MailWasher, gives me choice to delete and
blacklist any message and its author. MailWasher is free and I strongly
recommend it to others.
How Zone Alarm or Adware can help me
I have dialup connection. I do not stay online all the time, only
about two hours in a day and my computer does not stay on for more than
three hours at a time. I close it when I m done.
No harm has come my way for the last ten years. May I know if I am
vulnerable to a security risk
Thanx a lot.
Jagpal S.Tiwana
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