The best way to protect oneself from exposed ports is to download and install Zone Alarm. It will prevent intrusions and notify you if one is attempted. It also puts the vulnerable ports in "stealth" mode, meaning that your PC won't appear to outsiders.

Zone Alarm doesn't require configuration - the user trains it. When you first start using it, it'll pop up with a box asking if the application (which it'll identify) is authorized to use the Internet connection. Click the box to remember the choice so it doesn't ask you everytime..

However, I don't know if it's compatible with AOL; AOL is an Internet "portal" (as is MSN), and should have its own firewall. If your using a real ISP (Internet Service Provider), then you should install Zone Alarm.

FEEL the excitement!

Internet Explorer 7 has been released; get it here. Its main charm is that it's not as big a security mess as IE 6 and prior (which is no doubt what you're running if not Firefox).

If you aren't running Win XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed, fuggetaboudit. If you're running Win XP without SP2, well, good luck!

Rusty, I have "7" and I love it. I like the tab set up and the fact that with one click you can look at all open windows. They put some things which I use a lot like "search this page" is wierd spots but I found it and we are OK.

Many of the features were lifted shamelessly from Mozilla/Firefox and Opera...

Not to continue to sound like a Nattering Nabob of Negativism, but I'm again off my White Charger, seeking to slay demons.

Barth Forum members may find this brief to be educational, and probably mostly unintelligible. The jist is there's a lot of crud out there, and it takes only microseconds to have it infect your PC. Most requires the victim to do something he shouldn't.

This reinforces the concept of never opening an email or attachments from an unknown source, nor should one open attachments from known sources (such as friends) who are way down on the Geek-scale. Much of the crud is spread via email attachments where the sender is an unsuspecting accomplice.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
Not to continue to sound like a Nattering Nabob of Negativism........................

OK, Spiro.

Anyway, I finally sprung for a laptop. Any advice? I am so intimidated by the thing that I haven't even turned it on yet.

When I signed up for Verizon and bought a LG 6100. The salesman told me that if I bought a Mobile Office Kit I could use the phone to connect to my laptop for dial up internet and use my minutes. My plan was to just check e mail when out in the Barth using my night and weekend free minutes.

Now, Verizon tells me no deal. I gotta buy a sixty dollar a month plan. They further say that the laptop never could use cell phone minutes, that the salesman never said that, etc, etc. Of course, like most places, employees are in a revolving door situation, so nobody has been there longer than a few months, and nobody knows anything. So I am quite irritated at having bought a laptop and finding it is going to be way more expensive than promised.

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
The salesman told me that if I bought a Mobile Office Kit I could use the phone to connect to my laptop for dial up internet and use my minutes.

They further say that the laptop never could use cell phone minutes, that the salesman never said that, etc, etc.

Sure he did. That's what you can expect them to say.

You see signs in a lot of stores that say something to the effect "We're not responsible for anything our employees say" This is what you get in today’s throw away society, a high turnover rate. Doesn't that just frost your craw? (Will I be getting the understatement of the day award?)

Imagine the day when one needs to carry a hidden digital video camera just to talk to another person? With cameras and storage cards getting smaller it might just come to that . It's hard to say - "I didn't say that" when the evidence is right there.

Da' G33k is going to tell you about Wi-Fi and how you can get a free signal in lots of places - there's a few websites out there that track this type of stuff. I'm sure in So-Cal there's a lot of free Wi-Fi hot spots. I believe that there's a California town or county that someone’s trying to make into a completely free Wi-Fi hot spot.

I too am interested in this as I'm now on the hunt for a HD type laptop that can take a little bit of abuse and can be used to check email etc...

Panasonic seems to make a nice HD laptop that can take some abuse - What is your recommendation Rusty? - I have not committed to buy anything as of yet - Operating system suggestions? - Anything that you would recommend for a laptop that you would buy?

Bill N.Y.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:
Doesn't that just frost your craw? (Will I be getting the understatement of the day award?

quote:

Da' G33k is going to tell you about Wi-Fi and how you can get a free signal in lots of places - there's a few websites out there that track this type of stuff. I'm sure in So-Cal there's a lot of free Wi-Fi hot spots. I believe that there's a California town or county that someone’s trying to make into a completely free Wi-Fi hot spotBill N.Y.

We are usually far from everything. In fact, quite often, we are even out of cell phone range. However, traveling to a hot spot every few days might not be too bad.

First, the wireless network/Internet thingy.

"Wi-Fi" is somewhat a misnomer, making one think "Wide" something-or-other, but it's not wide area network - range of the router (the system hub) is at most 200 meters under ideal conditions if the router has a high-gain antenna - typical is less than 50 meters. The presence of a wireless router creates a "Wi-Fi Hot Spot", and if the owner hasn't enabled encryption or established password security, anyone can connect; this is usually done automatically if the laptops wireless card is on. The limitation is that all the users on that one router share a single internet connection.

Use of a private wi-fi hot spot is illegal without the owner's permission. However, many places are now providing a wi-fi hotspot for customers - even McDonald's in some places - as are a few libraries.

That said, I have Alltel's nationwide toll-free number to which I can dial up from any phone jack at ten cents a minute - that's plenty for email, etc. on the road. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have the same facility at about the same rates. I can use 1,000 minutes a month (that's over 16 hours) for the same price as Mobile Broadband, and it works virtually anywhere there's a phone.

At the other wireless extreme are the data direct to satellite systems (DataStorm or Hughes), which require about $5-6K of equipment and IIRC, about $250/mo in fees.

New on the market (which is the service bill h was quoted, and the facility being hyped by Ron Livingston in the Sprint commercials) is "Mobile Broadband", (or The EDGE" with Cingular) which uses cell phone facilities and towers, but different equipment. Coverage will be as spotty as cell phone coverage.

Mobile broadband connection only requires a card to be inserted into a laptop - and of course, the subscription.

One of my geeky astronomer friends had a Hughes system in his 38' National RV that burned up. For his new 41' Beaver, he's considering a mobile broadband system due to the costs (his Hughes system is toast (literally) and all the gear. I mention the coach sizes, because the satellite system is huge, and I don't think any under-35' coach would have the room. Anyway, I'll see him in two weeks and see what he decided and why.

Laptops - what to get? None of my old customers liked this, my first question:

"What are you going to use it for?" But that's the key. Useable laptops (a/k/a "notebooks") have prices ranging from about $600 to $8,000.

Here's the decision tree:

1. Will you use it for anything OTHER than surfing the 'net and email?

2.a. Will you load and process photos on it?
b. Will you play games with havy graphical content?

3. How much will you actually be toting it?

4. How much of its time will be spent on batteries?

5. What size screen do you prefer?

6. What is your price range?

Decent laptops can be had from Dell, Lenovo (bought IBM's Thinkpad line), HP (now that it nearly has its act together), Sony (overpriced), and Toshiba.

Off-the-top, I'd favor ASUS, as I've built lots of peecees with their components, and nothing by ASUS has ever failed. $1,000 to $1,500 will buy plenty of features. I'd avoid Panasonic, as they're newcomers to the computer bidness, and I've doubts about e-Machines, Gateway (which owns e-Machines), and Acer.

For the "I gotta have one yesterday, just tell me" crowd, it's this ASUS, and I would deal only with NewEgg, with whom I've dealt for over ten years and NEVER had a problem, ever - and that's rare.

If not-all-that-terrible customer support is important, Dell, then HP. Unfortunately, I've found that with both, having some geekiness accelerates the service.

Operating system would be Windows XP Home.

Bill, Start up your Verizon Mobile Office software. When it prompts you for a username, that will be "your cell number@vzw3g.com and the password is vzw. my buddy in Memphis uses your type of setup and uses his minutes off of his plan or waits until after 9pm or on weekends when unlimited minutes apply. All of the above assumes that the LG 6100 does in fact work as a modem. Hope this helps....
Billy T

FYI...
Our 38' Barth Soverign has a DataStorm F2 system and we subscribe to the UnaSat satellite service. Very good speeds & VoIP telephone too! About $100/mo. F2 System sells for about $7500 but I am a dealer for them.
Billy T

We have verizon mobile office and just use it after 9 pm and on weekends so we don't use up our minutes. No subscription fee. Did hear a year or two ago that they would no longer allow that for new phone buyers but that customers that already had it could continue with it as long as they renewed their contracts....don't know if it is true or not but we made sure to renew before the old contract expired.

quote:

Originally posted by billyt53:
Bill, Start up your Verizon Mobile Office software. When it prompts you for a username, that will be "your cell number@vzw3g.com and the password is vzw. my buddy in Memphis uses your type of setup and uses his minutes off of his plan or waits until after 9pm or on weekends when unlimited minutes apply. All of the above assumes that the LG 6100 does in fact work as a modem. Hope this helps....
Billy T

Thanks for the good instructions, Billy. I have a Mobile Office Kit coming. My 6100 is supposedly capable so we will see. I have had the phone and service since May of 2005, so maybe we will be OK. But, from what Ed says, I will be on pins and needles waiting for Verizon to cut me off.

There might be a satellite in our future, anyway, as we plan on moving to the middle of nowhere, far from phone lines, so no DSL, cable or even dial up. So, I would be interested in opinions on Datastorm and other satellite systems. We will probably use the same system for house and RV.

You will not be getting "Free Access" to the Broadband system. The login only gets you into the Nationwide Access system. I would not be concerned about them cutting the cord.

Billy T

Five security updates for WinXP released by Microsoft today...