Jonathan Kay

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jonathan Kay [MVP]
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J

Jonathan Kay [MVP]

Greetings Jim,

Glad to hear it =).

QoS stands for Quality of Service -- it really doesn't have any security impact. A router
*is* a NAT, although if it supports UPnP, most features in MSN Messenger 6 will continue to
work -- however, this really isn't required and really isn't worth the expense. As well, you
can experience a number of problems with Messenger and routers, even if they do support UPnP.

Keeping up to date with the updates from WindowsUpdate (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com)
on a weekly basis (and in the case of Windows XP, using the automatic updates feature) should
protect you from most of the exploits. Although yes, a firewall is preferred (but not
required), in most cases, a software firewall will allow you the most flexibility.

Some examples of software firewalls are ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com), Norton Internet
Security or Norton Personal Firewall (http://www.symantec.com/product/index_homecomp.html).
In the case of ZoneAlarm, you can actually download the "basic" version for free:
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?lid=pdb_za1
Please keep in mind (for at least ZoneAlarm) that some configuration may be necessary in
order for all the features in Messenger to work properly with a software firewall (in the
case of ZoneAlarm, the 'Medium' setting is preferred).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
 
Hi Jonathan, I have a question for you. I am now enjoying the full
featured MSN Messenger V6 after disabling the Windows XP firewall and the
Intel Network Qos. My daughter is still on Win. 98 and upgraded to MSN
Messenger V6 did the same thing with her broadband modem by disabling the
NAT and everything works beautifully (audio/video, file transfer, remote
assistance, etc.).
And now the question. I was told that by disabling the Qos /NAT I or we
were opening up our cpu's to hackers and we might want to consider putting a
router that is UPnP friendly in line to protect us from that happening. The
way it was explained to me is that the router would serve as a "hardware
firewall" and have no negative impact on the performance of my one personal
cpu and certainly not impact the performance of messenger.
Could you please comment on this.
Thanks,
Jim
 
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