Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroViking
Just be aware that a firewall will only protect you from external sources trying to connect to your PC. Your network router should already be doing that, as it will be using NAT to hide your local network address from the wider Internet.
A firewall will NOT protect you from malicious websites, or any of the nasties that use your web browser to get in.
Pull up your PC's network information and I can pretty much guarantee your IP address will be of the form 192.168.X.Y. (There are other reserved IP address ranges, but I'm not going to get into them here.)
Then open a browser and hit any of the "what is my IP address" websites. The value it returns will be different.
Your WiFi gateway / modem-router / whatever is doing address translation to keep your PC's IP off the Internet. It's doing more, but I'm trying to keep things simple.
So, don't bother with a firewall. Invest in a good anti-virus / anti-malware program instead.
V.
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Totally agree with this...
....and i know some watching wont like this, but the "more modern" Operating systems actually do a pretty good job for free as well...
XP,W7 are no longer 'safe' on the internet (sorry, that's just a fact)
My advice over and above what AstroViking has said:
- don't click on any dodgy looking links
- dont open email from people or sources you dont know
- stay away from "questionable" websites. (you know which ones i mean)
Also - some of the "alert" messages that pop up (more true for w10 and above) are actually "notifications" from dodgy sites that are engineered to look like a windows alert - and therefore direct the unwary to click on the dodgy link within.(you would have had to visit a dodgy site to get this in the first place)
I cant help much with this - its a complicated topic that can't be taught in the space of a forum post. Once you learn the difference, you can instruct w10 etc to ignore notification from these dodgy sources.
Peace. out. folks