Smith, Donald wrote: The goal of this document is help new XP users survive long enough to do their updates.
It is regrettable though that no mention is made of real personal firewalls such as ZoneAlarm (ICF has no egress control whatsoever). Although the intentions behind this document are good, I am concerned that users might get a false sensation of security after reading it (because after doing some steps it is now "safe" to plug the network).
Many of them cant/wont put up acls/nat/firewalls...
IMHO there is no excuse not to have a $39 box on a broadband connection. And, contrary to ICF, it can't be deactivated. Talking about defense in depth, this box _is_ the first line of defense. When I install a PC at friends and family, my sequence is: 1. Hardware NAT/router/firewall. Deactivate uPNP and wireless. 2. Passwords 3. Windows Update 4. Office online 5. Norton anti-virus with automatic updates and scheduled scans. 6. ZoneAlarm 7. Ad-aware with update 8. Run a full virus scan 9. Run a full spyware scan ICF is not even part of the picture as it does not remove the need for the hardware nor the need for ZoneAlarm. As far as spending money on hardware, it's part of what is required to have my help, along with beer and baked goods. Michel