I recently bought a new computer...thank goodness, since my old one was on its last leg, and yes, it's a Dell...which comes with McAfee Security package (which I much prefer Norton, but I am giving McAfee a shot)....

Anyway, I decided to test the McAfee Privacy Services, which allows you to ban ads, checks cookies, etc. Well, after installing it, my Apache service stopped running...had to run it manually through the console to get it to work, if that wasn't annoying enough, I could no longer FTP to any of the remote servers I have access to, not to mention the annoying cookie check, which basically crashed Outlook.

So, just some advice...be aware of McAfee's Privacy Service...the Anti-Virus service doesn't seem to be much different than Norton, so I may stick with McAfee's Virus Protection Service, but I am definitely staying away from the Privacy Service and with the havic it caused, I will most likely stay away from the Firewall Protection as well.
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Buh Bye!

Cheers,
Me

Hi Eliot,

Wow, sounds like it works too well. What do you think of the Norton Firewall/Security package? I use an external hardware firewall now and I'm pretty happy with that for the most part. I just got an offer from Norton to get a bundled Firewall and Antivirus package and I just wanted to know if it was worth the extra couple of bucks to get it.

Congratulations on your new PC :)

~Charlie

Chaz,

The only problem I had with Norton Firewall was that it automatically changed my Outlook Mail account settings in terms of mail server and SSL configurations, but I was able to easily edit those settings back to their original settings.

The other Personal Firewall product I've tried and hated was Zone Alarm...never again will install that on any of my computers.

Depending on the price, I would recommend going with the bundled package, but make sure that to be on the safe side that you have saved or imaged your current settings and back up your registry settings (depending on what OS you are using, if it's XP, then you don't really have to go through those steps, since you can restore to the most recent setting quite easily, but still good things to do anyway).

And based on the fact that you have an external hardware firewall, that would probably be sufficient, unless you don't have administrative permissions, since it would be nice to have flexibility to close down certain ports and open others for LISTEN access on the fly as needed.

Don't know if this rambling has helped...but you may find some nuggets in it.
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Buh Bye!

Cheers,
Me

Thanks for the info Eliot. I think I'll go ahead and pick it up, it's only about another $10 to get the package deal.

~Charlie