Cable Internet - Follow Up
After 5 weeks with a cable internet setup from my home office, I would like to report my experiences with my new bandwidth and share some software recommendations. My cable service comes from Optimum Online (CableVision of Long Island, New York), and cost $80 for installation and ethernet card plus $35/month for service and cable modem rental. If I did not have cable TV from this company (and you have no other choice around here), they would also charge me a $10 "why not" fee (well that's what I'm calling it). You can compare these charges to what may be available in your area.
Security
Firstly, many of my security concerns did not seem to be "there." I gave a hacker friend of mine my IP address, and he said he saw no way in. One down. Second, I was concerned that others on my "node" would have access to my computer from us all being on a big LAN. If I double-click "Entire Network" from my Windows 98's "Network Neighbourhood" icon, I get an error message saying I can't browse the network. If I can't see them, they can't see me. But what about "sniffing" or "snooping," the concept that someone on my network made themselves like a network administrator and is watching every packet I send and receive. While I have no proof that someone is or is not doing that, I decide to go with statistics. That means that someone in my community or within a ten-or-so mile radius has the knowledge and equipment to monitor my packets. The might also need to have some voyeuristic or malicious streak. If someone like that lived or worked around here (and this is mostly a residential area), the question is: why are they snooping me (say) and not using their brilliance to hack major websites or companies? Why look at li'l ol' me? And if nobody shows up on my network, I'm not supposed to be showing up on theirs. So probability-wise, it's not likely to happen to me. (see under Links Relevant to Articles a ZDnet article on cable modem security - the good news is that it is getting better)
WRQ, Inc. makes AtGuard software, combining firewall with ad or image blocking and cookie control. AtGuard lets you form your own preferences for each website or domain name you might be visiting, controlling everything from whether or not you see java on that site to whether you permit or block cookies, see ads or images containing a certain string within the graphic's URL, and even to make looping animated GIFs non-repeating. So I can "tell" it that when we go to Suite101 to allow cookies and not to block the ads, but when we go to The Wall Street Journal to allow cookies, but to block graphics containing "ads/ad/interactive.wsj.com" in the URL. Even if you don't need the firewall, AtGuard is a great net pal. The firewall end of it is flexible and VERY user friendly. Just pick the type of communication, inbound or outbound, whether or not it's for a certain application, protocol, port, or even time and day, and say whether you permit or block it. If it sees something as you surf, it will ask if it's OK. You can either create a rule on the fly, or tell it yes or no as a one time response. AtGuard costs around $30 to register for a ful version. (see my screen shot of the window where I make rules for certain applications here)
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