So I’m finally hooked up to the campus wireless network with the laptop. Woohoo! No more checking out a computer from the library circulation desk.
I’m running XP home (one place on campus said I’d have to switch to professional…when I actually bought the wireless card yesterday, that place said I was fine with home…and I’m hooked up for $71 less)…Norton anti-virus…but I don’t have a firewall as far as I know.
On my home computer, I run ZoneAlarm - should I get something of the sort for this computer as well? If so, are there any that run better with XP home?
Many thanks for your help.
XP includes some firewalling capability itself, but I’ve read mixed reviews. I’d definitely install ZoneAlarm or something similar (there are others, but ZA is consistently well reviewed). You should also be very careful about what file sharing capabilities you enable (shared drives, P2P software, etc.).
The fact that you’re on wireless is irrelevant, but the fact that you’re connected to a campus network means you can expect a much higher rate of attempted penetrations than if you were on a corporate or even commercial ISP network.
I went ahead and downloaded & installed it, as well as ad-aware. Even if it’s all mental, it makes me feel better about doing things like, oh, using my SSN as my student ID to sign into the registration system and such.
ZoneAlarm will have no effect whatsoever on the security of sending your SSN over the network. ZoneAlarm is intended to block unauthorized connections both from outside your machine and from applications on your machine which you haven’t given access to the network. It is essentially just guarding the gate.
When you choose to log into a registration system (presumably using the web, VPN, or a dedicated app), you’ve already given ZoneAlarm permission to allow that app to connect. ZA doesn’t do anything to secure the actual use, so if someone is sniffing your network (which is not terribly unlikely in a campus setting) then the security of your SSN relies on the transmission protocols used by the app. Hopefully, if the registration system is web-based, your university is using a secure server or other means to protect that traffic.
And it’s not all mental. They really are out to get you.
Yeah, I knew that. :smack: I just wasn’t thinking as I was typing. And they are using secure servers in areas where passwords/SSNs and the like are sent to log into areas.
Though I did love the e-mail I got today for one of the DE courses I’m taking in which my login name and password were right out there. I changed all my other university passwords after I saw that one.
I’ve used Zone alarm on my home machine before, and it’s great app. I currently use Agnitum Outpost firewall which is equally good, but seems to take up less resources.
