Broadband

[blindog]

Hi might sound a bit stupid,but here goes,living in the sticks we are just about to get it in the village i live in ,Firstly because my son is permenatly on the net our house phone is always engaged !I've heard that if you have broadband you can still use the phone so no need for a second line ,Is this true !!

And does it have to be on all the time ---24/7

 

Cheers

Lenny

[seph]

It is true that you can use the phone and no it does not have to be on 24/7

[Nugg]

True but won't cost any more if it is on 24/7.

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

Ahh something I know!! As an IT consultant I can help you here...

 

With broadband whilst it is referred to as a permanent 'always-on' connection you typically are not connected 24/7 and you do still connect (i.e. double click internet explorer, click connect) as you would with your existing setup.

 

However, since you are not paying any fees for usage or time online most people tend to connect once when they start the machine and leave it connected. However, should you not wish to be on the Internet for whatever reason (may I suggest security) then you can disconnect as you normally would.

 

You can use the telephone whilst using the broadband and if someone rings you your phone will still ring (unlike the engaged tone or 1571 like you currently get). However, this is depenedent on the correct configuration of microfilters, which are small little adapters that should go into all of your sockets (regardless of whether a computer is connected or not). People fitting microfilters (which are typically supplied by your ISP with the modem) to just the computer line was one of the key mistakes many made (it will often still work, but it can cause problems).

 

Finally if you move to broadband install decent software to limit the damage caused by spyware, malware and viruses. Unlike a 56k connection you typically will not notice (at first) these programs installing and performing their malicous roles in the background, and by the time you pick up on it, it can often be too late.

 

My personal favs are

 

AVG Anti-virus (version 7)

www.grisoft.com

 

Spybot Search and Destroy

www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

 

Tiny Personal Firewall

www.tinysoftware.com

 

All very wise precautions. I've never had any faith in ISP based virus/firewall protection. Also, from experience, Norton has proved difficult at times (many swear by it though -I've only sworn at it!).

[blindog]

Cheers for that.

[Newt]

Ian - good advice indeed. A couple bits I'd like to add though.

 

Spyware blockers/killers - I don't know of any single product that does it all and prefer to rely on having several. These are all free, reliable, and play nice with the others

- Spywareblaster - passive protection in that you run it once to block a specific group of baddies (nearly 4000 at this point) and then close the app until the next time you check for updates.

- Microsoft Antispyware - runs full time to block or remove malware. Says it is a beta version but the app is rock solid and if you run a Windows PC, probably the best full-time protection available. The product was called Giant before Microsoft bought it and was/is excellent.

- Ad-Aware SE - very similar to Spybot in terms of scans/cleaning.

 

With the exception of the Tiny Perwsonal Firewall, all these apps are free or have a free version that is functional but lacking the bells and whistles of the paid versions.

 

You should only have

- One firewall operational

- One AntiVirus program operational

 

Spyware/malware programs don't seem to get in each other's way so I highly recommend keeping the Microsoft Antispyware app running with automatic updates turned on, keeping Spywareblaster protection updated, and running both spybot and ad-aware periodically.

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

I like the registry lock on Search and Destroy (although it can be irritating if installing software). I do not think the resident shield is enabled by default with S&D - but it does have one.

 

Ad-aware - I find I have had relatively poor results in general. Must say I've probably not used it in a year or thereabout so it may have improved.

 

Agree totally about the firewall and AV with regards to only running one of each at a time. The amount of jobs where I have found two, three or more out of date AV checkers on one machine is unbelievable.

 

Theres some press about Spyware removal programs detecting each other as being spyware (Spybot have an article about it on their website) - never had any experience of it myself.

[Newt]

Ad-aware SE (the fairly recent personal/free version) is good. I also like the feature it has for checking for Alternate Data Streams (ADS).

 

At this point though, the M$ Antispyware product is keeping things clean enough that I rarely run malware scans. I do keep the spybot protections including tea timer turned on and keep spywareblaster current but the last half-dozen ad-aware and spybot scans found nothing so I don't even bother with them unless I suspect a problem.

[Westie]

Sorry to have to ask this, but I'm also looking into getting broadband. Norton and Symantec (sorry for spelling) both seem to sell packages for about £50, which covers virus, firewall, popups and spyware. Are these worth the cost and easy to use for a beginner who would prefer to get it set up and then leave the program to do its stuff? Also, do you have to renew the licence each year? I presume the cost is about the same?

[jeepster]

they are both a waste of £50, get AVG antivirus, Sygate or Zonealarm firewall plus firefox browser, adaware, spybot and spyware blaster. you'll not only have saved £50 but you'll have software that actually works.

 

there are enough people on here who can talk you through installation and maintainence of these programs too so you needn't worry about that