What the hells wrong with my Dad..

benjo

benjo

benjo

Soldato
Joined
4 Sep 2005
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London
Hi all..

My dad just went completely over the top...

He has a printer hooked up to his pc, and its connected to the network. I was printing some stuff off from my pc up here, but his firewall blocks almost everything.. even pings from computers on the network.

So i turn his firewall off whilst i print my work off, and he comes up to my room, and starts shouting at me asking why i'd turn his firewall off.

I explain to him that it's blocking all the other computers, and he says "You're leaving my computer wide open to hackers! My computers totaly un-protected" etc etc... His main point being that he's gonna get hacked by some cyber nerd.. :confused:

I tell him its extremely unlikely and it wont happen.. and he says "You just dont get it do you, **** off!" :eek:

Got me so angry and shouted back "Oh, and you do?" (he's a complete noob btw)

But come on.. telling me where to go just because he's totaly paranoid about his pc.. I just want to be backed up in what i said, that its not going to get hacked etc?

/rant :mad:
 
benjo said:
Hi all..

My dad just went completely over the top...

He has a printer hooked up to his pc, and its connected to the network. I was printing some stuff off from my pc up here, but his firewall blocks almost everything.. even pings from computers on the network.

So i turn his firewall off whilst i print my work off, and he comes up to my room, and starts shouting at me asking why i'd turn his firewall off.

I explain to him that it's blocking all the other computers, and he says "You're leaving my computer wide open to hackers! My computers totaly un-protected" etc etc... His main point being that he's gonna get hacked by some cyber nerd.. :confused:

I tell him its extremely unlikely and it wont happen.. and he says "You just dont get it do you, **** off!" :eek:

Got me so angry and shouted back "Oh, and you do?" (he's a complete noob btw)

But come on.. telling me where to go just because he's totaly paranoid about his pc.. I just want to be backed up in what i said, that its not going to get hacked etc?

/rant :mad:
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How about you just ask him nicely to share the printer, and allow access for your IP?
 
Celestial Caravan said:
sounds like he has some secrets on his pc maybe
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My thoughts exactly. I doubt someone would react like that if they were just worried about their pc being damaged by hackers.

Anyhow, if you have a router it will have a firewall 10x better than any software firewall. Personally I would have said that I didnt know what happened to the firewall ;)
 
A firewall facing an external network shouldn't affect the internal network.

How do you connect to his PC. Through a router or a cable directly to the network card on his PC?
 
Energize said:
Anyhow, if you have a router it will have a firewall 10x better than any software firewall. Personally I would have said that I didnt know what happened to the firewall ;)
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Thats a good point actually, didnt think of that.. i'll tell him when he starts to argue again
 
Well 1, if you have a router, the nat on it will protect you anyway, so there would be no need for him to have a firewall tbh, 2. just set his firewall to allow your network, or your computer.
 
tbh the likely hood of a single user pc getting hacked is almost 0. if he was part of a huge company network then maybe he'd have a point - but in that case he'd have a hardware firewall anyway.

just adjust it to allow access from your pc.

daven
 
The chances of him getting hacked may be low, but the chances of a worm making it through when the firewall is off and exposing his PC to some script kiddie hacker is quite high.

Over 250,000 new botnet PC's are detected everyday, so I dont think his concerns are unwarranted.

yes he may have secret stuff on their, but he could equally have stuff that is important to him that he doesnt want to lose.

Does sound like he over re-acted though.

what firewall is it he is using?
 
His printer, his PC, his rules.

I wouldn't be too happy if someone started fiddling around with my firewall without telling me.
 
You call him a noob, if your so good, why did you not setup his firewall properly for him, at the end of the day, his house, pc, network...... what right do you have to mess with his setup without asking ?
 
UKDTweak said:
You call him a noob, if your so good, why did you not setup his firewall properly for him, at the end of the day, his house, pc, network...... what right do you have to mess with his setup without asking ?
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I've asked him before, and he let me set it up. I've even asked on here a while ago because his firewall (ZoneAlarm) works too well.. it doesnt even open webpages... i'm not familiar with this firewall.. and i've tried setting it up before and nothing worked.

As for the situation, he lets me on his pc often, i was just asking for the probability of him being hacked :confused:

edit: Just re-read your post, and when did i say i was so good? I have the right to use his pc if he says i can. I even bought the router and switch to use on the network..
 
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Well chances of attack are slim, but it might be a good idea for you to do some more research on zone alarm and how to use it, you could then help teach your dad, and thus make a safe, secure network you can both use and enjoy without worries, good luck, ZA is actually quite easy to use, try reading the faq on its website and use the help built in. :)
 
UKDTweak said:
Well chances of attack are slim, but it might be a good idea for you to do some more research on zone alarm and how to use it, you could then help teach your dad, and thus make a safe, secure network you can both use and enjoy without worries, good luck, ZA is actually quite easy to use, try reading the faq on its website and use the help built in. :)
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Thanks, i'll take a look :)

if anyone came in my room and turned my firewall off i would do exactly the same thing as your dad did to you. No sympathy here im afraid.
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His pc is in the living room, i asked to use his computer to print stuff.. i just didnt tell him his firewall was off because i didnt expect him to go and use it whilst i was printing.. ah well :(
 
he's not asking for sympathy anyway... i reckon you just need to explain to him carefully so that he can understand, afterall he is your dad, the odd argument is usual, im sure he doesn't mind his own son touching (fixing) his pc anyway, why do we need to go on about rights anyway, no need to get that serious...
 
Have a sit down with him and explain that the software firewall isnt necessary if you are behind a decent NAT router w/hardware firewall. I would personally set up a couple of scenarios to demonstrate the point:

Go to GRC.com and use ShieldsUp:

1) with your machine set as DMZ - this will demonstrate a pure through-and through connection (you should be able to 'see' your pc from the internet).

2) turn off DMZ and try again - this will (hopefully!!) show that the router is blocking all incoming connections.

3) if he is still unsure, run ShieldsUp from his PC - he should be able to see from the ZoneAlarm logs that nothing is even reaching his PC.

Its a good test to do anyway to make sure your machines aren't visible.
 
The_KiD said:
but the chances of a worm making it through when the firewall is off and exposing his PC to some script kiddie hacker is quite high.
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1. Only if the pc requests it, 2. an anti virus programme would stop the worm anyway.
 
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