video_32d and other worms

[Wij]

I'm getting squllions of worms invading my PC just through IP checks over teh intarweb. What's the best way to prevent them ? I'm on a cable modem now. Would putting the XP firewall onto my LAN card help ? (duh, probably.)

And maybe getting the latest XP patches ?

Anything else though ? I don't feel the need for a full-blown virus checker as I'm bloody careful about where I browse and what mail I open.

 

[wyrd_fish]

virus checkers are always a good idea, and yes patch and run the XP firewall

correct me if i'm wrong but... most worms come in through often neglected ports

and few use 80 or 81

 

[TdC]

for shame Wij, you should have known better

 

[sibanac]

Best thing to do is put a cheap router between the modem and pc, even if you just have 1 pc.
Then still put the firewall on windows.

and run avast or avg on your pc

 

[Escape]

Disable windowsXP firewall and install zonealarm instead


For anti-virus, I'm using NOD32, which is pretty neat. Does the job without taking over your PC, unlike Norton's crap.

 

[wyrd_fish]

norton doesn't take over your PC...

not that i've knowticed anyway

 

[Escape]

Norton is evil, you can't format hard drives while it's running and you can't shut it down. Takes some fooling around to get around it and too much hassle. Besides, Norton is evil :\

 

[smurkin]

Disable windowsXP firewall and install zonealarm instead


For anti-virus, I'm using NOD32, which is pretty neat. Does the job without taking over your PC, unlike Norton's crap.

Off topic a little.

OK I read this post and decided to try NOD as McAffee is now broken on my machine for some reason. Nod both impressed and unimpressed me.

The scan was incredibly quick but it was unable to repair 4/6 infections (well, not actual infections - mostly just stuff in my spam mail folder). Nod had, however, discovered stuff that has been lurking for ages, undetected by my uptodate McAffee version 7.0). A little research to remedy my problems revealed that Norton could repair what Nod couldn't.

I havent paid for Nod (yet), but what it can do in a 5meg download is pretty impressive. It only seems to use 5 meg of memory in the background, which is nice.

/ps....a good way of getting reinfected each boot is contaminated system restore...yet another good reason to turn this piece of crap off ...might help, Wij