*twacks hackers*

[Zifnab]

Just recently my firewall (Zone Alarm) has been blocking LOTS of hackers, I'm talking maybe one every 5 minutes? When I first got it it blocked about 11 hack attempts and then an occasional one, but I'm getting worries with this now I'm getting them all the time!

Is there someway I could stop them from being able to find me so easily? It's becoming a pain and I'm starting to get alittle worried about my computer's safty.

[Bulldog]

Real hacks? What sort of hacking are you talking about?

[Zifnab]

Maybe not hackers, but people trying to access my computer. Zone Alarm says they're not a major threat but I'm still concerned.

[Bulldog]

Maybe try to set your Internet Zone Security to "High"? Supposely it sets you in stealth, which means that REAL hacking is prevented 99%. Everything else is just cookies and ads.

[Zifnab]

I tried that, but everytime I click 'high' it sort of goes back down to 'medium'... is something I'm doing stopping it letting me alter the settings?

[Bulldog]

Old version perhaps? Or maybe it's something with registration.

[Zifnab]

Could be, it's not Zone Alarm Pro, just the free one from the site, but before it allowed me to set it to high/medium or whatever. Would it be safe to get Zone Alarm Pro from KaZaA?

[Bulldog]

Newest version: 3.1.395
Dunno how safe it would be to download the Pro version from KaZaA. It may as well contact the developer without giving you notice.

[Zifnab]

I just checked, 'high' setting is only availible in Zone Alarm Pro :/ and I got three alerts since my last post O_o

[Bulldog]

If you're not comfortable with Zone Alarm, you could try Tiny Personal Firewall. I think you should feel 'safe' though, because Zone Alarm tells you that it has blocked an intrusion. Try running Adaware a few times and feel as 'safe' as possible.

[crono_logical]

What exactly is it saying it's blocking?

I know ZoneAlarm alerts for a lot more than it really should be doing, and isn't one of my favourite firewalls :p

[Zifnab]

The attachment is the warning window.

[crono_logical]

Unless you're on german dialup, I'd guess the computer at the other end is poorly configured, that's all, seeing as its NetBIOS that's being blocked :p

[Dr Unne]

Just because a computer is trying to access yours doesn't mean it's a hacker trying to break in actively. All kinds of screwy stuff goes on over the internet. Some hackers have programs that probe a bajillion IP addresses at random looking for weaknesses too. Doesn't mean someone's after you necessarily.

What's the best (free) firewall program? I use Tiny Personal Firewall.

[Zifnab]

:D thanks alot, that gives me some peace of mind ^_^ if I checked the 'don't show this again' box, would it stop warning me all the time, or just for netbios? *last question*

[Bulldog]

You can turn the Alert Message off.

[crono_logical]

Tiny Personal for me too, much more customizable than Zonealarm, if you understand it, that is :p

I haven't tried v3 of that firewall though, since that's meant to be shareware and not freeware (Tiny, that is).

[Bulldog]

I don't have firewalls. They make me feel as if I'm hunted. My friend will probably get one though. She's afraid.

[Shoyku]

I used to have that Firewall, but it would always make me worry, it would make me feel more as if people are out to get me more than that I'm being secure. It does get kinda scary when you get alerted every minute about 10 different people.