Free Firewall

If you are looking for a good free firewall perhaps you might want to check "Comodo Firewall". I stumbled upon this firewall when I was searching in Google for a free personal firewall to replace the built-in of Windows 7.

I just want to remind you that it is not advisable to have two firewalls running on one machine so you need to turn off the built-in windows firewall if you would like to replace it with another one.

The installer size is about 81 MB. Inside the installer it includes the Firewall, Comodo Dragon and Geekbuddy. Comodo Dragon is Comodo's version of web browser similar to that of Firefox. Geekbuddy is the connection to Comodo's tech support and this is not free. During the installation procedure you may exclude Comodo Dragon or Geekbuddy if you do not want it.

The configuration is very easy you do not have to have an advance knowledge to figure out on how to set it up. To get the best security you just change these settings or leave the default:

1. On the "Summary" tab -> "Firewall" leave the default setting to "Safe Mode"
2. On the "Summary" tab -> "Defense+" leave the default setting to "Safe Mode"
3. On the "Firewall" tab -> "Stealth Ports Wizards" click "Block all incoming connections and make my ports stealth for everyone." This feature makes all the ports of your computer to be invisible from the internet.
4. If you have a web, email, FTP, or VPN server you need to change the default setting of "Firewall Behavior Settings" -> "Advanced" by putting a tick mark on all the options under it. This feature protects your computer against the common types of Denial of Service (DoS) attack.

To test your firewall you can use any of these websites:

1. http://www.pcflank.com/

2. http://www.hackerwatch.org/probe/

Don't Do This To Your Printer

It is an ordinary busy day for the I.T. team when somebody came in carrying a laserjet printer.  It is a newly deployed printer so we are wondering why they brought it to our department.  When we open the input tray everybody is surprised to see. “How did it get there?” An earphone got stuck inside the printer.  The common printer issues that are brought to our attentions are paper jam or defective gear.  This is the first time that we saw an earphone inside the printer. It took some time to remove the covers until finally the earphone is completely removed from the printer.

The employee who is using that printer just placed the earphone on his table unknowingly that the other end is laid down on the input tray.  Until the time came that he used the printer not knowing that he is not only printing a document on a piece of paper but together with his earphone.

A few days later the same printer is brought in again and yes…your guess is right.  The same earphone is stuck again inside. This may sound funny but if we are going to look at it in a different perspective this is a good example of negligence.  We have to be responsible enough to look after the property that is assigned to us.  Treat it as if we are the one who actually bought it.