Pop up eliminators

[Gurm]

No, not wrong. Give me a moment to hunt up the link... oh, there it is:

http://www.grcsucks.com

They are QUICK to point out that their site is OPINION, and that it is NOT their intention to brand him as a fraud - but then they proceed to present evidence that he is.

That site says it far more eloquently than I could, and there are dozens like it.

- Gurm

[Jon P. Inghram]

The entire GRC website looks like a giant pop-up ad anyway, and the more of his wonderful material you read the better (read: laughable) it gets. The SpinRite section is an particularly enjoyable one too.

[gt40]

Ah come on, the guy really doen't sell anything much, and he does have some good tools for checking your firewall - and it does work -try disabling your firewall and see what happens.
Which is more than grcsucks has to offer.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Gimme a break, firewalls aren't some kind of magical internet condom. I know people who have been deluded into installing firewalls on DIAL-UP connections because of all the hype, and actually think that it'll protect them even from viruses. I agree with Gurm 100% (even if he is a Microsoft loving ... err n/m ) on the software firewall issue. And I guess I must be special, I've never been "hacked", gotten a virus infection, or had any such problems even though I don't use a firewall on my cable internet connection. And I'm using Win98 too... OMG!

[Gurm]

Shields Up is a JOKE, compared to a real portscanner. Go try out some of the real probers on REAL security sites and you'll find a WORLD of difference.

- Gurm

[Helevitia]

What would you consider a "REAL" prober/scanner/security site?

They all do the same thing. Why the big push in making it sound like a certain scanner is so terrible? It does exactly what it is supposed to do which is scan your ports. What do you expect it to do? Scan your port, hack into your computer, beat up your kid with some electrons, eat the garbage and get the dog pregnant? Sheesh!

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by Jon P. Inghram
Gimme a break, firewalls aren't some kind of magical internet condom. I know people who have been deluded into installing firewalls on DIAL-UP connections because of all the hype, and actually think that it'll protect them even from viruses. I agree with Gurm 100% (even if he is a Microsoft loving ... err n/m ) on the software firewall issue. And I guess I must be special, I've never been "hacked", gotten a virus infection, or had any such problems even though I don't use a firewall on my cable internet connection. And I'm using Win98 too... OMG!

Umm, the last virus DOES get stopped by a firewall. Just because you haven't been hacked doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I haven't been hacked either nor I have I been introduced to a virus. Your point?

[Gurm]

The latest virus DOES get stopped by a router, too. Same price as ZA, infinitely more useful, and just plain ol' better in EVERY WAY.

- Gurm

P.S. I'll get you some real probing sites. Give me a bit, gotta sort through the old bookmarks. A real probe on all your ports takes... about 15-20 minutes, and makes Shields Up look utterly silly.

[GNEP]

Is this virus the reason I was seeing yesterday morning about 10 incoming connections a SECOND all from different IPs on my router logs, trying to get in on port 4665 (which is blocked along with all ports other than 80 by said router)? Usually the logs show something trying to get in on various ports only up to about 10 times an hour...

[LvR]

Amateurs!.................I have been using one of these babies for as long as I can remember and absolutely nothing gets through.

[gt40]

Last I looked ZA is FREE for personal use.

[isochar]

So is Sygate, Kerio, etc...

[spadnos]

Thanks for the link Gurm.

grcsucks has some interesting points, and links to even more stuff. The strange thing is - they say that Gibson is a fraud because the stuff his software does is already available - not because it doesn't work. They also attack his names for the technology he uses - I agree with them here - he uses really stupid marketroid words to describe technical stuff he reimplemented.

The thing is, shields up is still useful - though not original. It requires no installation, it scans from an external site (providing a scanning service, more than a scanning program), and it's OS / browser agnostic (though I haven't tried to use it with lynx or wget ). That makes it usable by anyone with an internet connection, not just people with multiple machines and / or multiple locations.

As for scanner sites:
I found this listing with a quick google: http://www.mycert.mimos.my/resource/scanner.htm
It lists most of the packages I could think of (SATAN, SAINT, nessus, nmap ...) plus a bunch more.

- Steve

[Gurm]

Here, try this if you wanna make Shields Up look really silly:

http://scan.sygatetech.com/

- Gurm

[gt40]

Thnx for the link Gurm, but the scan does not complete:


'access to this port is disabled for security reasons'