OT: IE flawed? NO!, you don't say, important security info Options

[Powaqqatsi]

Thank god I own a Mac. I would not even consider a Windows PC anymore. We have one, but I never use it, it's my dad's and he's constantly whining about viruses and stuff like that. Things are starting to get worse every day with Windows. By the way MacOS X is an excellent developer platform and there is not 1 known virus for MacOS X (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Part Pricer]

If I have anti virus how important is adding a firewall?

Peter

IMHO, it is very important.

The techniques that malware authors use are getting more sophisticated each day. A lot of the new variants have the capability of installing themselves by performing a "drive by". It used to be that the user had to initiate the installation of some malicious code by either opening an email, downloading some software or visiting a site. That is the case no longer. Now, if your computer is merely present on the Internet (and unprotected) you are vulnerable.

Here in my office, I practice "belt and suspenders" protection. I have a hardware firewall and each PC is running Kerio.

[SirAndy]

I practice "belt and suspenders" protection.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

for a home PC (and i include MACs in here as well) you should have a hardware firewall (you can get that with any brand name Cable/DSL router these days).

block ALL and ANY incoming ports.

there's no need for a single port to be open unless you're running your own webserver or email server, in which case it wouldn't be a home pc anymore ....
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Andy

[Toast]

I love reading about all this technical computer mumbo jumbo. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/girlboing.gif)
(sad thing is I actualy understand most of this stuff (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) )
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/givemebeer.gif)

[anthony]

If you have a PC it's best to do as much as you can so you're not hassled by an infected machine. In my opinion you need:

Anti Virus software (updated regularly)
Windows patches updated (Automatic Updates control panel)
Anti Spyware software (Adaware, Spy Sweeper, etc)
Firewall (hardware or software)

As Andy said a DSL/Cable modem router will shield you from a lot of stuff. It does NAT (network address translation). It basically blocks random packets from entering the network where your computer is located.

FWIW, if your AV software has expired or something and you've been putting off updating it, there is decent free AV software out there:

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

You can do everything else for free or almost free so there's no reason not to do everything. I've even seen routers for as low as $25.

[tat2dphreak]

If you have a PC it's best to do as much as you can so you're not hassled by an infected machine. In my opinion you need:

Anti Virus software (updated regularly)
Windows patches updated (Automatic Updates control panel)
Anti Spyware software (Adaware, Spy Sweeper, etc)
Firewall (hardware or software)

As Andy said a DSL/Cable modem router will shield you from a lot of stuff. It does NAT (network address translation). It basically blocks random packets from entering the network where your computer is located.

FWIW, if your AV software has expired or something and you've been putting off updating it, there is decent free AV software out there:

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php

You can do everything else for free or almost free so there's no reason not to do everything. I've even seen routers for as low as $25.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

I have a hardware firewall, a software firewall(sygate), AV, 2 anti-spyware softwares, an anti-trojan. etc... not that I'm paranoid or anything (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[fiid]

mmmmmmm. Macintosh.

OSX has a firewall built in. And it doesn't have wide open scripting capabilities.

I haven't look back since I switched. Much better for development having a real unix machine under the hood.

[fiid]

I run a Mac dont know these things!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

owning a MAC does not automatically protect you from viruses etc. in general.
in fact, one of the first computer viruses ever was for the AppleII !!!

the kids focus more on the PC simply because it's the much more common platform which means more exposure for their creative ventures into exploitive computer programming ...

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Andy

The main problem with the PC is Visual Basic. It runs in outlook, web pages, etc etc, and has access to all kinds of sensitive information. There is no security model under the hood.

Most other machines suffer from the odd buffer-overrun or root exploit, yes, but nowhere near the volume that microsoft has created. It is worse, and not only because it is the most prevalent, it's also because it's the worst implemented.

[ArtechnikA]

...Much better for development having a real unix machine under the hood.

better for developing -what- ?

we make and sell Windows apps.
we have a niche product; deploying a niche product on a niche platform is a quick path to failure.

i understand Macs are great at what they're good for. i remain unconvinced that they are the optimal development platform for realtime Windows applications in C++.

[fiid]

Well- for windows apps, clearly windows would be better. My bad - I should have been more specific.

I do mostly server side Java development for deployment on unix servers. I use the same codebase on several linux boxes and my mac with no problem. All the stuff I run on linux will compile on the mac anyway, and all the build tools run correctly.

If I was developing apps for windows, and I didn't need stuff like access to the sound system or 3D card, I would probably stick to Java development on the mac, with extensive QA on windows.

So - I agree with you whole heartedly, although depending on your definition of real-time - I may question the sanity on running that on Windows. The Blue Screen of Death is many things, but real time, it is not. :-)

[ArtechnikA]

So - I agree with you whole heartedly, although depending on your definition of real-time - I may question the sanity on running that on Windows. The Blue Screen of Death is many things, but real time, it is not. :-)

no - i've done hard deterministic realtime apps (flight simulators...) but in this case, all we really need is timing to millisecond accuracy. we can pretty much grab all the resources of the machine necessary to achieve this - it's a dedicated machine and application at that point.

you develop applications for the platforms your customers have, or will buy. our application runs just fine on a $200 Ebay Win-98 laptop - and as we do vehicle diagnostics, portable hardware is a big plus...

[fiid]

Cool beans. What does the app do?