OOPS!

A reader asked if I had forgotten to include FIREWALL in my list of items in my post on PC Security on October 29. She was right. I did forget.

It is absolutely a necessity to protect your system with a firewall. My personal favorite is Microsoft's Windows Firewall, included as an integral component of both XP & Vista. I like it because it's free, there is no install to worry about, no updates to check for, and it is a silent partner as I use my computer. I just turn it on - once and only once - and it runs all the time protecting my systems. Some argue that it is not a very strong firewall, and one reason offered for this is that it only checks incoming traffic and not outgoing traffic, to which I say "so?". I am looking for protection against the bad guys out there who are trying to get into my machines, so I am very happy with this low overhead product.