Firewall and Spyware Test Tools?

[Blue Bird]

I know about grc.com's ShieldsUp for testing firewalls but is that the
best?

Just what tools are available that are trust worthy and effective for
testing whether your firewall and/or spyware software is up to snuff.

Final thought - what about a similar tool for AV software?

Thanks for useful replys

[Dave Higham]

"Blue Bird" <stellar_jay@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e2bd548f.0308051253.60a9180@posting.google.co m...
> I know about grc.com's ShieldsUp for testing firewalls but is that the
> best?
>
> Just what tools are available that are trust worthy and effective for
> testing whether your firewall and/or spyware software is up to snuff.


Here's a few links I bookmarked in the past - not necessarily recommending
them though:

http://www.auditmypc.com/welcome.asp

http://privacy.net/analyze/

http://www.dshield.org/

Dave

[Jay T. Blocksom]

On 5 Aug 2003 13:53:11 -0700, in <alt.privacy.spyware>,
stellar_jay@hotmail.com (Blue Bird) wrote:
>
> I know about grc.com's ShieldsUp for testing firewalls but is that the
> best?
>
[snip]

Not even close. Hell, not even in the game.

> Just what tools are available that are trust worthy and effective for
> testing whether your firewall and/or spyware software is up to snuff.
>
[snip]

For firewall and general system configuration testing, others have already
posted several useful links. As for "spyware software"... I certainly
*hope* you mean "anti-spyware software"; but even notwithstanding that, this
is not something you want to "test" -- such programs are generally
after-the-fact "band-aids", useful only when all attempts to remain
"uninfected" have already failed.

> Final thought - what about a similar tool for AV software?
>
[snip]

The same logic applies -- you really *don't* want to throw virii at your
system just to "test" your AV software.

--

Jay T. Blocksom
--------------------------------
Appropriate Technology, Inc.
usenet01[at]appropriate-tech.net


"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

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