Re: Is Zone Alarm necessary with a DSL firewall?

DanS wrote:
Sharon F <sharonfDEL@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:OyWbUMDBHHA.4060@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:


As for not turning off the computer - I still do it. We get
thunderstorms that can knock out expensive electronic equipment in
the blink of an eye and occasionally enough wind to disrupt the power
supply. Also... and this is just personal opinion... I think it's
more "earth-friendly" to not consume power when you don't need to.

No arguement; unplugging is the only sure protection against some
situations.



Many people don't realize that a quality UPS, not necessarily a huge
one, just not a super-cheapy, have benefits beyond poer backup. They
will protect as a surge protector as well as act as a line
'conditioner'.

A UPS's true use is to protect against power outages or over/under voltages,
and allow the clean shut down of the computer. The surge protection of a
UPS may or may not meet or beat that of the "surge protector" you allude to.
Even just a surge protector capable of some substantial energy consumption
far exceeds your estimates of the cost of a UPS. A UPS also normally has
far more surge protection than what you refer to.

You know, like the $150 Monster surge
protector/conditioners they try to sell you when you by a flat panel
TV.

Thosre are NOT "monsters": They are minimally designed and very poor surge
protectors in general. Some are good, some aren't. It's the specs that
matter, not the price.


For the most part, you're right with the following exceptions/caveats:
1. Line power protections does NOT protect the telephone wires unless you
run them through the device, as they recommend; in general, damaging surges
occur much more frequently on the phone lines than on the power lines.
2. No "cheap" UPS "conditions" the power lines. All most do is switch over
to battery power if the surges/peaks go beyond certain limits.
3. Decent UPS's are not available in the $30 range; the batteries t
hemselves cost that much or more.
4. NO UPS is going to protect equipment from a close lightning hit, which
the OP intimates may occur frequently and unexpectedly.
5. Unless it's a decent UPS, there will be no indication if/when the
internal surge protection has been compromised. Therefore one hit can kill
the protection and have saved the equipment, but a successive hit will get
directly to the equipment. MOVs and "standard" cktry fails open vs.
shorted, and if not internally monitored, can be damaged beyond
functionality without any symptoms being present.
6. Turning the power OFF and unplugging ALL external connections (e.g.
unplug power AND telephone wiring) is the ONLY way to be certain an external
lightning hit or power-cross can't get to the equipment.
The best way to unplug the power is with a power strip: When you unplug
that, you should be unplugging everything. Just unplugging, say, the
computer, still leaves other paths to exist where surges/hits can get into
it via the other equipment (eg connectors, phone, etc).

In SOME areas in North America and around the world, the above points are
ALL valid and the best protection is to be sure everything gets unplugged.
In "most" areas, it can be debatable whether they are necessary points to
use. eg around here, we don/'t see lighting unless the storm is detectable
(99% of the time anyway).
Most people find the use of a reasonably priced UPS which will give them
anything greater than 5 minutes of running time and has protection for the
phone wires plus a control connection to the computer, will suffice.
They give the user time to Shut Down without losing any data before the
power is lost.
They gloss over temporary outages of very short duration without even
bothering the user other than he may hear the UPS beep, indicating an
"event" occurred.
For unattended computers, they will automatically Shut Down the computer if
power is lost and the batteries can't keep the computer running any longer.

Just to clarify; there is a LOT of info available on these points all over
the web.

HTH
Pop`




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