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General discussion

Firewalls for W98

by Tosca Jun 4, 2006 10:14AM PDT

Couple of questions/requests:
1.I'm looking for recommendations for free software firewalls for W98se - any out there worth looking at?
2. I used Sygate which was fine but did slow down my system and I'm seriously wondering whether I need a firewall at all since I do not bank or buy on the internet - any advice for me?

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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Firewall Zone-Alarm Free
by dogteams1 Jun 4, 2006 1:20PM PDT

I will say the way you surf is what picks up alot of Spyware,Cookies,.Most user's get the junk by clicking,on the wrong things in thier mail,Web-Pages.
Sygate is a good free firewall but it is also a memory hog,and not for the novice.Zone-Alarm after testing alot of firewalls is my pick of the free firewalls.
A very Friendly Fire-Wall.
I also Recomend Avg Free Anti-virus.Plus Spyware-Blaster.You don't say what all your running,That why i'm adding the top free stuff.Lava-softs Ad-aware,Spybot,Also i would pick counterspy over Microsofts Defender Which won't run on 98 Also Spysweeper won't run on 98 who care's your not missing anything by not running them.
For clean up i would pick cccleaner for cookies and temp but when it comes to the Registry my pick after trying all is old faithful Pc-tools (Registry Mechanic)I Don't know what browser your useing if its IE then tighten down the zones.And if your on Broad-band they can hit u quicker.You can use a hardware firewall which would really help also u would need a Router.

Dogteams1

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Free Spyware/SpamStoppers cont.
by Tosca Jun 4, 2006 2:07PM PDT

Thanks for the recommendations - I should have noted that I use Firefox most of the time; Netscape 7.1 on occasion, IE never. I also use AVG and Spybot and will check out the others mentioned. I used to have ZoneAlaram and honestly don't recall why I switched to Sygate but will take another look. Thanks again - Tosca

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Use previous version-Latest ZA not 9x compatible
by denniseckhaus Jun 6, 2006 7:25AM PDT

ZoneAlarm is fine, but the latest version is no longer compatible with 9x. Just download the previous version and it'll work.

Don't worry too much about their warnings that it'll no longer be updated for future threats. A Firewall blocks anything incoming or outgoing that you tell it to block. Their warnings relate more appropriately to features in some of their paid versions that include virus scanners and spyware removers. You'll be using other applications for those things.

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98 Firewalls
by Tosca Jun 6, 2006 2:31PM PDT

Thanks for the tip and more importantly, the information - Tosca

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