Tuesday Tao-te-Ching
Picture This. Not only does the site dslreports.com have reports on broadband providers (well, duh) but they also have a cool section of photos taken by contributers (see it here). The images come in various resolutions up to 1600 X 1024. Check it out, if you have a broadband connection ;>
Walled Off. Like keeping warm in the winter, security on the Internet is about layering. For example, even if you have a perimeter firewall built into your router you still need something to block attacks coming through in the form of email or web-based attacks. To continue the analogy, you also need to have anti-virus software to stop attacks that have gotten past your first line of defense and an operating system that has all of the latest security patches installed. However, today's post will concentrate on PC-based software firewalls.
One of the more popular software-based firewalls is ZoneAlarm (see it here). It not only closes the doors to hackers from outside, but it also monitors outgoing connections to guard against Trojan horse programs phoning home.
But, for whatever reason, if you want to check out a couple of other solutions you might want to take a look at Agnitum Outpost (see it here) or Kerio Personal Firewall (see it here). Both have versions that are "free", although the free version of Outpost appears to be an older version with fewer features. I have not tried either of them but if ZoneAlarm is giving you problems and you want to take a look at some alternatives, these two would be a place to start.
For those wanting to know about other solutions, Agnitum also has a nice comparison chart here (needless to say, consider the source when viewing the chart) that shows the major players in this field. Pick one that works for you and use it.
Aloha!