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Switcher Hangout (Windows to Mac)
What Are Your Security Settings?
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<blockquote data-quote="cwa107" data-source="post: 987096" data-attributes="member: 24098"><p>Sure, but if someone is probing you on a public network (i.e. one of the other machines on the same LAN), your computer is going to be responsive. Additionally, if someone happens to join a LAN and is infected with a worm that your machine is vulnerable to, you're at risk.</p><p></p><p>In my professional experience as a network admin for more than a decade now, I'll have to humbly disagree with you on this point. Sure, if you're having connectivity problems, by all means, don't run a software firewall. But I can tell you that I've had my software firewall turned on and in stealth mode both on my Windows machines and my Macs for quite a long time now and never have I had an issue that was directly attributable to the firewall being turned on. With that said, I have had to repair customer machines infected by worms that exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Windows that would otherwise have been safe if they were firewalled at the client. In particular, the CodeRed and Blaster worms should have been a wake-up call to any Windows user considering not running a software firewall. Those worms were the reason that MS finally forced the firewall on by default when they released SP2 for XP.</p><p></p><p>In my opinion, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - especially with Apple's lackadaisical attitude toward patching security vulnerabilities.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="cwa107, post: 987096, member: 24098"] Sure, but if someone is probing you on a public network (i.e. one of the other machines on the same LAN), your computer is going to be responsive. Additionally, if someone happens to join a LAN and is infected with a worm that your machine is vulnerable to, you're at risk. In my professional experience as a network admin for more than a decade now, I'll have to humbly disagree with you on this point. Sure, if you're having connectivity problems, by all means, don't run a software firewall. But I can tell you that I've had my software firewall turned on and in stealth mode both on my Windows machines and my Macs for quite a long time now and never have I had an issue that was directly attributable to the firewall being turned on. With that said, I have had to repair customer machines infected by worms that exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Windows that would otherwise have been safe if they were firewalled at the client. In particular, the CodeRed and Blaster worms should have been a wake-up call to any Windows user considering not running a software firewall. Those worms were the reason that MS finally forced the firewall on by default when they released SP2 for XP. In my opinion, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - especially with Apple's lackadaisical attitude toward patching security vulnerabilities. [/QUOTE]
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What Are Your Security Settings?
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