Hello…
(I’ve edited my thread title to sound less extreme!)
- I don’t know what a packet is.
- I don’t know what a packet sniffer is.
- I’ve no idea what a handshake is.
In the absence of technical know-how, I responded with what was left of my options…to uninstall. A program once behaved in a certain way and then suddenly started behaving in a different way with nothing on the screen indicating to me why it was doing that. I responded by deliberately being overcautious and this is the result.
In my entire time on the Net (around 12 years, now) I’ve NEVER felt as safe as (for example) the Comodo Firewall Pro makes me feel. If Comodo’s people are genuine, and if the Firewall (ALONE) is reliable and does even half of what it appears able to do, then Comodo’s Crew have built something magnificent and free - I’ve rarely seen that in the world of crucial computer applications - ever!
But, when something appears wrong, I assume that it may not be right and I respond - makers of security software will sometimes recommend that we continue to think in terms of security and not leave absolutely everything in the hands of any software…but, apply even just basic common sense for ourselves, also. I’ve done that. Fear responses often appear rash to those with no such fears.
I was once told that, if a thing appears too good to be true, it probably is…I’m just looking forward to shedding layers of that, but it’s a painful journey.
In total fairness, I should’ve replied to the answers in the previous thread about this, and for that, I apologise. But, awaiting other replies, a lack of daily available time and a slow internet dialup connection were not my only reasons - I feel completely out of my depth, trying to understand the depths of Net security and explanations involving terminology that is “every-day” to most folks, here, become more confusing, to me. It’s no fun being Mr Dopey among the knowledgeable, in any subject.
There are many programs on my machine which I don’t allow to automatically update, the only exceptions being, right now, SpyBot S&D and SpyWareBlaster - and, it took me a while to trust those, too, as I remember from some years back. There have also been many that ended up uninstalled for this very same (long unexplained exchanging) reason, just until I learned (in easy terms) what had been going on and why it had gone on at all.
Norton and others have made me a computer/Net paranoid…their behaviours were too inconsistent and that made me nervous. It was made worse, for me, because Norton (let’s face it) just DOESN’T WANNA GO, when you try to get-rid.
For Comodo’s people to have DELIBERATELY included spyware into a program would’ve been ridiculous! My concerns were only that something had PREVIOUSLY been written into EXISTING code without their knowledge or that I may have had a suspicious download coming from elsewhere, somehow. “Sniffing” and “handshaking” are wasted on my inexperience in detecting those problems - in the absence of insight I am guilty only of continued and worsened ignorance and a fear response grounded in that ignorance.
Apologies, again, for having not replied to the other thread.
Ian.
