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I am going to put an ethernet card in my pc for the road runner connection (high speed internet access). Should I wait until I finish the pbem games or can I just do it?
Thanks in advance Panther.

You can just do it.

You do realize that you have to have all the other hardware that goes with that NIC card don't you? You can not just plug in a phone line (RJ11). Hooking up to the internet through a NIC card is a little more complex than through dial up.

Yes I do know that. Road runner service provides all of the other parts of the equasion. All I want to know is if I change the hardware profile will the secure games work.

If I may offer some advice to all those who are using high speed connections. Once you get ADSL, etc. you're on the Net and vulnerable to attack as much as anyone else. You can go to www.grc.com then follow the links to shields up. Shields Up is a program that will scan your system and tell you what you are vulnerable to. A personal firewall by Norton, McAfee or a LINUX box will protect you from trojan horses, etc. Many hackers know the blocks of addresses that ISP's have. They also know that private users are less likely to have proper security than companies are and so they attack private end users in order to insert trojan horse programs such as a distributed denial of service attack, etc.

Happy computing to you.
An old network engineer but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.
Larry Holt

Larry,
just to get a clarification, Are you saying that having a high speed DSL line makes the user susceptible to hackers and getting a firewall installed is a good method of defense? Also, why is a DSL line more vulnerable than a regular dial-in connection? I visited that site and after my computer name came up i went into network neighbor and changed it to a discreet "none". thx for any info.

CK

The main problem comes from the fact that your connection is always up and you always have the same IP number. When you dial in with a modem, you have a different IP number each time, and you are only on for a limited time, which is the old "security through obscurity".

However, if for some reason someone wanted to break into a DSL or Cable-modem computer, it is much easier since they would probably be able to try to break in over a long time period since the same IP address is used constantly. Plus, the user might not even notice any funny hard drive action since they might be away from the desk and have just left the computer (and therefore connection) on. Further complicating matters is that Windows is not all that secure, as the Shields-up site demonstrates.

So, to sum up, a firewall is a good idea. There are many free or low-cost firewalls available of varying user complexity. A popular one is ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com)... I am sure other people can recommend other programs as well.

Tom

Larry is right - a DSL line does invite hackers. I talked to a Earthlink Tech Support guy who lost everything on his hard drive (at home) because he didn't install firewall protection. When I finally get DSL I WILL have firewall protection!

Don

I've been using Road Runner for about a year now. A few things I have learned is when your not using the computer, power it down. Can't hack into something that's not on. If you find yourself online a good amount of time then definitly get a fire wall. Also insure your properties in network neighborhood are set to NOT share anything. I haven't had a problem in any way yet but better safe than sorry. I've been quite pleased with the service Road Runner has given. Hope this is some assistance. BTW I forgot to mention that I don't use a fire wall. But then again if I'm not on the computer I shut it down.

[This message has been edited by Leibstandarte (edited August 02, 2000).]

Zone Alarm is a FREE firewall that is very good, you can get it from www.zonelabs.com I use it and haven't had a problem with it yet. I am on cable BTW

Haupt

Well I agree, a firewall is a good idea if you are going to leave your computer on 24 hours a day. However, in my experience, a firewall can be detrimental when you try to do some gaming over the internet.
For example, on the MSN gaming zone, it is impossible to host a game when you have a firewall up. Worse still, most games there won't allow you to play at all with a firewall. Direct IP connections do not work, but PBEM will still work.
If you are going to get a firewall, be sure you can take it down as necessary, otherwise, you might not have much fun.
Pretty much anyone who wants to get into your system nowadays can do it whenever they want, no matter what your connection. And while a firewall will protect you from this, I think you are still resonably safe if you always turn off your computer when you are not using it.