Personal Firewalls

[sandbox]

I’ve just recently acquired a Earthlink DSL line and was wondering about securing it.

Is there preferable software used specifically for broadband firewalls on OS 9s...

In searching I found this story, scroll to the firewall section
http://www.applelinks.com/reviews/securitybundle.shtml

A scanning program at Symantec to check security which gives the wrong IP address.
I guess Earthlink scrambles the info.
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp?...ZTVOGXFSTZHSZPW

But in light of the ISP failing, I would like to have a second line of defense.

I’ve been looking here http://www.securemac.com/  to see if I can recognize specific features that I might use but it’s all cryptic to me.  

Macintosh Firewalls
ContentBarrier
DoorStop Firewall
IPNetSentry
NetBarrier
Norton Personal Firewall

Thanks

[Mayo]

I do not know if there is "preferable" software for broadband connections.

As pointed out in this thread http://www.techsurvivors.net/ubb/ultimateb...ic;f=1;t=010476 apparently the hardware firewalls that are part of routers may be more or less effective depending on the router.

I have used NetBarrier since it came out.  The filters for banners, computer ID and the like just slow things down (even on cable) and many pages do not load correctly, so I leave the filters off.

Otherwise all the settings are set to the max without any problems.

When I check online security websites the analysis always comes back as my Macs being in "stealth mode" which is exactly what it sounds like...  And it is apparently the mode one wants for the maximum security.

I have come across some negative reports about the Norton product, but it was some time ago and may have been related to a single version, etc.  I'm sure that people will let you know if it works for them.

Since we are on the subject, I ran across this article yesterday and I would appreciate comments:

http://www.securemac.com/Cmacscable.php

If I understand it correctly, a cable data system is in effect a LAN, and that with the proper software one can intercept and read unencrypted packets as they travel the cable LAN.

Up to this point I thought that my weakest link was my wireless gateway, but I would interpret the above to be a more serious security problem than my wireless LAN.

[Al]

Since being behind a router when I was using OS 9, I really didn't worry about a software firewall.  Now on OS X, more so I felt safe, but, then I did a firmware upgrade on my router and for some reason it shows the IDENT port as active but closed.  I didn't care for that, so I enabled the built in firewall for OS X on all my Macs.  Better to be safe then sorry.

ContentBarrier - Heard of it, never tried it.

DoorStop Firewall - Heard it is a very good firewall.

NetBarrier - Very popular and recommended by a lot.

Norton Personal Firewall - Not so popular...???

IPNetSentry - Not a full time firewall, more like a guard at the gates.  When it sees a suspect at a port it will shut access to that port for the suspect IP address.  I've tried it and it seems to work well.  But, if your looking for stealth mode, this won't do it at first glance.

[dolphin]

I have Norton Personal Firewall...but took it off...it was ok...but prevented a chat program to not function properly...so I removed it.
I like Al am using the built in firewall of my router. I am still using OS 8.6!

[sokukodo]

This may be a dumb question, but doesn't the firewall in System Preferences do the job?

[sandbox]

Thanks, the newly installed DSL has been slightly troublesome, I have multiple email addresses on different partitions, some are based in Domains.

A domain addresses in Earthlink anyway is considered vipmail in a dialup configuration, where in a DSL config. the vip is removed from the mail address and runs mail.earthink.net rather than vipmail.earthlink.net, but no where in the instruction manual does it explain that there’s a difference so, trial and error brought me to the phone and a walk through to get the preferences corrected.

Switching to another partition has sometimes required that I close down an active computer when I have no other computer turned on. I have also found a blank monitor screen when changing partitions, that needed to be rebooted to correct it.

I’ve not yet run Norton disk doctor or conflict catcher on this new install, or firstaid for that matter, so now I’ll run the tests to see if something is not in full cooperation with something else and get back later.

IPNetSentry may serve my purposes for now, I don’t need to be any slower, nor do I want something that will confuse others in the office. I will check Netbarrier next, the Symantec advanced firewall is for 0sx.