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Reference: Miss S Tocking Filler
El Loro, how you go about about tracking down the attacks?
My a/v firewall s/w warnings show the IP (= Internet Protocol) address of the attacking website's computer. Every single computer when connected to the web has these IP addresses. They look like 123.456.789.012. There are some websites which are for tracking down where these addresses come from. So I go on to one of these, type in the number and it shows the area. It does not show an actual address, just the area. What I must not do is to type in the IP address in the box at the top of the screen where you type in the website address of where you want to go to. Only in the search box on the tracking website. Never ever type an IP address at the top of the screen unless you are instructed to by a legitimate support helpline or you are an IT technician as you will be taken to the hackers own computer and that would be incredibly stupid.

Your own computer will have an IP address. Never reveal that to anyone as they could then get access to your computer. If you use Google, you may notice that it realises where you live (only the area, not the actual house address). Google uses your IP address for potential channelling of suitable adverts for that locality. Lots of other websites do the same. Obviously the websites have to have a policy over security over the information they keep.
El Loro
I've just been looking through my firewall log. In the 8 hours since I switched my computer off I have had 80 attempts by crooks attempting to breach my firewall plus 6 determined attacks. That works out that if I did not have my firewall in place, it would take between 5 and 6 minutes before my computer became infected.

A few years ago, some IT people deliberately tested a computer without a firewall to see how long it took to become infected. 8 seconds.
El Loro
Reference:
Is Norton enough?
It's an industry standard, but it should be kept up to date. Also Norton is for anti-virus. I don't use it so I don't know if it includes firewall protection as well. Some versions of Windows do include a firewall. The simplest way to check on a Windows pc is to check Security Center from your Control Panel. You should see that both Firewall and Antivirus are on. You can also check there which firewall is in operation and which antivirus s/w is in operation. Note that some routers have firewalls in them - I'm not sure whether these would appear on the Control Panel.

If you see that there are two different firewalls in operation, you should decide which one you want on and turn the other off. If you have 2 on at the same time. this can cause conflicts and slow down your computer. There is probably a warning that there are 2 firewalls on and advising you to turn one off. This does not apply to anti-virus s/w as fas as I know though I only have one anti-virus s/w on.
El Loro

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