Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: viruses - Brian

Bill,

Food for thought. I had McAfee, and got infected. McAfee didn't spot the
virus on it's own or when called up for a full scan. Housecall did but
said it was not repairable. After getting a fresh install on a brand new
HD and installing SystemWorks, I cautiously fired it up with the old
secondary drive plugged it. Norton found the NYB virus instantly and
cleaned it.

I am beginning to think something may have co-opted a program I use on
the net before ZoneAlarm was installed. Prior to my new setup but after
installing ZoneAlarm, logging on to the net usually brought a flurry of
port scans and other attempts to communicate within minutes if not
seconds. Since this fresh install, with Netscape coming off a new CD, I
have yet to get a single port scan in two days.

ZoneAlarm was the first and possibly still the ONLY firewall that
applies cyrptological analysis to programs allowed to communicate
through the net. Many firewalls DON'T. Norton is/was one of the worst,
installing itself with a definition file of 850 or so programs to be
granted unquestioned access to the net. A trojan simply has to rename
itself to any pre-approved program, and it's bypassed your security. If
ZoneAlarm applies some algorithm to new programs based upon the current
status of that program as it resides on your HD, it may not prevent
ZoneAlarm from allowing a compromised program from sneaking through.

Anyone thinking of buying a firewall NEEDS to visit http://www.grc.com
and do some reading. Steve Gibson has a number of free online and
downloadable programs to help test your security.
Seriously folks, it's time to batten down the hatches. This isn't the
only list I subscribe to with sudden reports of virus attacks.
Hope I'm not wearing the subject thin here, just trying to help.

Jon