Braodband and Viruses

[prototypeJedi]

hi, I've got a broadband connection to the rest of the world :). I do a lot of online gaming (Serious Sam, Wolfenstein, etc...) and like the convienence of NOT having a Firewall. How safe am I without a Firewall? I'm careful with my email and don't open them unless I know what it is. I've also tweaked Windows Services and disabled anything that involves accessing my comp from anywhere but where I'm sitting. Anyone have a scope on this kind of thing?

[BertImmenschuh]

My opinion is you are not safe. Viruses are not the only worry, it's that you are constantly connected to the 'Net and that makes it easier for someone to hack into your computer.

[prototypeJedi]

point taken. my question is: what's on my system that is of any interest to a hacker besides the intention of implanting a virus, and do viruses happen this way? most of the viruses you hear about are transmitted via email.
I'm not trying to reject the idea of using a firewall, but I've had broadband (no firewall) for a while and haven't had any issues yet *knock on wood*.

Thanks for the info :-)

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by prototypeJedi on 04/28/02 18:11.</FONT></P>

[BertImmenschuh]

You may have absolutely nothing of interest to anyone else except maybe user names/passwords for various sites and contained in Cookies. Some of the 'worms' use all the addresses in your E-Mails and send themselves to all those people. Then it looks like the virus came from you. I personally don't like that idea/reputation.

[prototypeJedi]

wow, that's heavy stuff.
I'll check into it a little further to see what I'm going to do. thanks

[sda]

online gaming ... Serious Sam, Wolfenstein ???

hehe ok :P

Try World War II Online or Dark Age of Camelot :P

I was wondering if a service like hotmail or yahoo email was good againts viruses ... cause after all theres nothing installed on your machine to access your email.

Of course the second you register to hotmail or any of those you get all kind of crap from all kind of cie trying to sell you all kind of sh~t, but i dont really care, you can ignore them using options ...

So is viewing your email trought a software installed on your machine has more chance of getting a virus then some1 that view his email trought the web ?

[prototypeJedi]

I don't have time for the stratagy/rpg, I go for the quick mindless stuff. ;)