Vista - How safe am I?

I purchased my first laptop this December. It's a windows vista home premium
notebook. How safe will I be if I connect through a hotspot? I have been
reading all the posts and answers in this forum and it's like reading my old
high school physic book (I barely passed physics!) Please can someone kindly
tell me if my laptop straight out of the box is safe to connect via a
hotspot? Does vista come with vpn or do I need to purchase vpn through, for
example, HotSpotVPN or PublicVPN.com? Is my notebook safe to use at a
hotspot now or do I need to get something additional like PublicVPN.com.

Thank you,

Sue

Easy. When Vista detects the hotspot, be sure to specify that you are connecting via a PUBLIC network, then it'll lockdown the system to help prevent unauthorized access.

You might also want to consider purchasing a third-party firewall solution (such as Kaspersky Internet Security) to help bolster the Vista Firewall.

"Sue" <Sue@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:728F15BB-F3A3-41EE-9BFD-C49E20FAD9BA@xxxxxx
As long as you're using Vista FW/packet filter, and you don't have the
Exception rule to share resources on a network, like a wireless LAN, then
you are safe from other machines on the wireless LAN. No one can come at
your machine.

The other thing you can do is disable the Client for MS Networks and MS File
& Print Sharing services off of the wireless network interface card (NIC),
which will close all the ports on the computer that would allow someone to
access your computer in a LAN situation such as a wireless hot spot. If the
ports are closed on the computer that will allow networking with you
computer and other computers on a LAN, then how can someone come at you if
the ports are closed?

Thank you both! Very clear!

Sue

"Sue" wrote:

It looks like it's an unsafe world out there but I knew that. So it wouldn't
hurt to set up extra protection by getting a vpn. I guess I could speak with
my school district's tech people. But this is my own personal notebook. I
won't need to use it until April when I fly back home to visit my parents (in
their 80s and completely computerless, so I will probably have to find a
"cafe hotspot" to check my email and stuff). Maybe I will just go with
PublickVPN or HotSpotvpn. Thanks!

"Andy C.(never #)" wrote:

You are DEFINITELY NOT SAFE at an open wi-fi hotspot or when you use Wi-Fi at home (unless you have WPA or better enabled with strong password).

Your data stream between your PC and the acccess point is wide open and easily sniffed. firewalls won't help this.

You were right in the first place. Use a VPN, although I would recommend Personal VPN from Welcome to WiTopia >> Where Freedom and Security Meet over hotspotvpn or publicvpn. They are offering a free PPTP VPN (what publicvpn offers) along with their SSL VPN for only 40 bucks a year. hotspotvpn has same package for over $100 a year.

"wifidude" <wifidude.338t93@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:wifidude.338t93@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...Unless this woman was James Bond's wife with some top secrets on the
computer she was transmitting somewhere, why would she need a VPN
connection?

Well you are right to the point.

HOWEVER, sometimes it is just an issue of a virus getting in and thrashing
your system from the inside. This is the most dreadful thing.

This is a real life story. I do have Vista + Win2K on one machine with
constant switches between the two. I still have some software I need on
Win2K I cannot transfer to Vista. My secretary hates Vista and she likes
Win2K because it is where she's worked all time she's been with me. I give
her a lot of leeway when there is a slack in workload. She can roam the web
to look for her soft toys. Those places are filled with traps set up big
time gangs. I asked her to do it from Vista but she forgets because for her
it has no difference. As a result today Win2K crashed miserably, pretty much
as it did 10 years ago a couple of times. Also my ZoneAlarm has expired on
that partition. I think the virus actually got into Vista as well as I saw
some trouble but it seems I am recovering but Win2K looked totally dead.

"Mr. Arnold" <MR. Arnold@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23bDnOi8VIHA.1376@xxxxxx

On Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:47:02 -0800, Sue
<Sue@xxxxxx> wrote:
Lots and lots of people do this, most of them apparently have no
problems.

Do you have an antivirus?

College kids do it. For many of them if their machine crashes it is a
learning experience and perhaps should be even encouraged because people
should learn from mistakes. For a person who values his laptop a bit
more.... Read my previous post. That was MHO.

"Paul Knudsen" <pknudsen@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u5pqo3dll2rggg4lsduk2jd3hrnbbo15j3@xxxxxx