Genealogy Chat

Hi You will need a firewall, something like 'Zonealarm' which you can download free. You also need an anti virus such as 'AVG' also downloadable free and 'spy bot search and destroy' is a good thing to have too . Julie

Thanks Snowdrop, having someone else's thoughts are great. I tried reading and understanding what it was on avast but my brain wouldn't take it all in. But I kept coming to the conclusion that it was more or less the same as a firewall. So I think I'll take the chance and just stick with the XP built-in firewall and avast. Thanks again. By the way we've got zonealarm at home, but they have just discontinued supporting Windows 98, can't find any more free ones still hopefully new pc will find its way into our home soon. Josie

Hi Joseanne, Sorry no-one's answered you before but perhaps no-one knows the answer. I have just googled webshield and there appears to be a lot about it. Some of which I have here for you now: 'Q: What is Web Shield and how does it work? A: Starting from the version 4.6. avast! comes with a new on-access scanning provider - Web Shield. It is able to monitor and filter all HTTP traffic coming from the Web sites on the Internet. It’s implemented as a HTTP proxy running on your PC. Connections from your Web browser are redirected to the Web Shield module. Web Shield in turn connects to the requested web server and while downloading the content it scans it for viruses and Trojans. Only the clean data is delivered to the browser, every malware is stopped before it gets saved on your PC' I'm no expert but from reading the above it looks like a firewall stops 'things' getting on your computer AS programmes/data etc are downloaded straight onto your hard drive - and webshield acts as a go between by connecting to the websites your visiting first and filtering its contents BEFORE you download onto your hard drive. Regarding what you have on your computer now and going broadband. You should be well protected no matter which method of connection you use - it's all about being on the internet and being safe!!!! Make sure you have a good system in place no matter which method of connection you use - again I'm no expert so I cannot advise but I have had Zonealarm for a good few years and never had any problems with it (touch wood!!). Good luck and I'm sure a more knowledgeable person will come along and give you a much better explanation. Best wishes Snowdrops

I'm calling it a night. Hope someone replies by the morning. Night Night

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between a firewall and a web shield? or are they the same. We are going broadband at work soon and our anti-virsus [Advast professional] has a web-shield and I wondered if that is the same as a firewall. At the moment we use the built-in one that comes on XP, but someone told me this isn't good enough once we go on broadband and we should get another firewall. I'm the only one in the office so there is no-one for me to ask.