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Although Apple Macintosh computers and Linux PCs are inherently immune to Windows viruses, they're still attractive targets to anyone who wants to break in across the Internet.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Firewalls are vital; 'DAVE' networks PCs and Macs nicely


Oct. 23, 2002


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, The Post-Standard

   A reader from Louisville asks if he should take special precautions to protect his home computer because he does his finances on it. It's a Windows XP PC, connected to the Internet by a cable modem, and it used the built-in XP firewall for basic protection against intrusion. Is there something else he should do?
   This is a question all computer users should be asking, perhaps in a more general way. A firewall -- either a program or a device that locks a computer's "doors," or ports -- is just as important as antivirus software for Windows PCs.
   Although Apple Macintosh computers and Linux PCs are inherently immune to Windows viruses, they're still attractive targets to anyone who wants to break in across the Internet. They need firewalls, too.
   All the current big-league operating systems -- Windows XP, Macintosh OS X and standard versions of Linux -- come with built-in firewalls. These firewalls are software programs. They all have problems of one kind or another, but some security is better than none.
   But good security is better yet. If you have a cable Internet connection, your computer is connected to the Internet every minute it is on. The only good security for a cable Internet customer is the safety of a hardware firewall of the kind built into cable routers.
   The router-firewall I've used for many months is made by Linksys. Other manufacturers make similar devices, and I haven't tried any of the others. All I can tell you is that I like the Linksys cable/DSL router a lot. (There are only two kinds, wired and wireless. You probably can't go wrong with any name brand.)
   By sticking one of these routers between your computer and the world, you're handing over the task of protecting you and your data to a hardware device that isn't fazed by spam, viruses and enticements from 19-year-olds with Web cams. Even better, a hardware firewall doesn't care whether your computer is running properly or not; it protects you no matter what. (Software firewalls are only as reliable as the operating system they are running under. And that means that software firewalls on Windows PCs are chancy at best.)
   If you have a dialup connection, get a good software firewall. ZoneAlarm works OK and is free. Or be sure to use the firewall that came with your Windows XP, Mac OS X or Linux computer. (The Mac OS X firewall is hidden away and hard to set up except in the current "Jaguar" version of OS X. That's one more reason to upgrade your Mac.)
   A reader from Orlando asks about networking his new Mac OS X computer with his two Windows PCs. They are already on their own Ethernet network. OS X has rudimentary Mac-to-Windows networking built in, but I'm a huge fan of add-on software that turns any Mac into a equal-rights member of any Windows network.
   The software is DAVE, from Thursby. You can download a trial version from www.thursby.com. I've been using DAVE 4.0 for a few weeks with great results. (I had some crashes during heavy network access, but Thursby patched DAVE recently. If you have DAVE 4.0 and haven't patched your copy, go get the fix.)
   At $149, DAVE isn't cheap, but neither is your time and effort if you work on both a Windows PC and a Mac and need to make sure they are fully networked. (I'm not sure what Thursby is trying to do by posting "maintenance agreement" prices, however. Microsoft tried and failed to get people to "rent" Microsoft Office, and the idea of charging for "maintenance" on software strikes me as a backdoor attempt to make more money for the same amount of work.)