Port Explorer and McAffe Firewall?

DLed trial version and decided to not keep it. Upon deletion my firewall would no longer let me communicate. I have to disable FW in order to get on the internet. Is this a problem on my end or did the Port Explorer program change a setting for me? I don't believe I made any changes while in Port Explorer.

Bruce

 

Hi Bruce, welcome to the forum!
till somebody is able to get proper mcaffee firewall support for the proper configurations --they don't even give them to the PE developers and support so we could maybe help mcaffee fw users-- we can but say either get another fw which is more user friendly and of maybe better quality or urge mcaffee fw support to help you out. We've tried countless times to get their support to no avail.
You might like to try for instance free ZA or Kerio to name a few so you can see for yourself on your own system what PE does for you.
Please post back your further experiences!

 

So could PE have affected my firewall program? Or are you telling me you are unsure of it's affect on some programs.

 

Hi brucegeulam, In a nutshell your firewall will not work with PE, it is a MCfee problem but they have not fixed it as yet or will not.

Sorry for your problems. Pilli

 

Perhaps some information could be included, for those of us who choose to use this FW, when attempting to use PE and that companies other products. Had I known in advance that there would be a conflict I would have reconsidered a trial of the product.

Hmm... buyer beware?

Thank you for the prompt responses.
Bruce

 

http://www.diamondcs.com.au/portexplorer/index.php?page=compat

It is posted here.

quote:
Firewall Software
Affects at least these firewalls :-
MCAfee Firewall

You need to give the file DCSWS2.DLL, which is installed with Port Explorer, full access to your networks. You can find this file in your SYSTEM directory which is c:\windows\system on windows 95/98/ me and c:\windows\system32 on Windows NT/2K/XP. Give this DLL full access otherwise some software may have problems using the internet.
end quote

and older firewalls:
quote:
Older Firewalls
Problems have been identified with :-
Sygate Personal Firewall v4.xx
Ontrack System Suite 4.x
Port Explorer has some issues with older LSP based firewalls. The best solution is to use the newest version of the firewall software you can get, as they fix problems like this. Another solution is to remove your firewall from your system before installing Port Explorer, then installing your firewall after Port Explorer is installed.
end quote

And the LSPFIX which is mentioned in several postings in the forums might be of help too.

 

As an X mcafee user I have to agree, especially since I'm not very good at the inside stuff of computers. I left mcaffe for the same reasons. Lack of support.
As a new user of firewalls, i can tell you this, the folks here at DCS are a world ahead of mcaffe. Thats just my opinion, but take it or leave it, I form my opinions on experiences, there always subject to change.

 

Jason can look at things from a technical side so i do trust his opinions in this too, when he recommended time ago to look for other firewalls if you want to be safe side, which might be expected firewalls would be meant for. Hard to tell which is better on your system, best look around in the firewalls and Look and Stop forums here, etc.
It has been tried to uninstall the firewall, install first PE and after the firewall back in situations like you describe, which solved in most cases everything, sometimes a LSPfix was recommended, but with mcafee fw as long as their support keeps being unsupportive ..... you know the advice...... do they have a moneyback policy?

 

Thanks for the info. Jooske.
I'm fairly certain the money thing is a one-way street as far as McAfee is concerned. I'm doubtful that I'll subject myself to the frustration for the few dollars that it cost. Again, buyer beware.
I was considering changing FW software but being a creature of habit I'll probably just deal with it for now.
Thanks again for the prompt responses and support.
Bruce

 

Yes I agree Pete, one of the advantages of being a relatively smallish company is that we can provide updates quickly if there is a problem. I have also been "at the hand" of bigger companies when it comes to solving problems with their software, so much so that using other software and forgetting you ever wasted your money on their product seems the best solution. We emailed MCAFEE December 2002 requesting information about why their firewall was not working with our software and to this moment we are yet to receive a response.

Look n Stop / Outpost 2 / Zone-Alarm / Sygate are all decent firewalls, much better than MCAFee.


-Jason-

 

Don't they have support forums like we have here? DCS support is famous and second to none, which makes me highly surprised when i see how we get frustrated elsewhere too often.
I have understanding for autoresponders with FAQ as long as that A stands for Answered with real solutions, but too often it stands for Asked and seldom adequately answered and there should be an option if all those options are tried and did not lead to the wanted result to have human support anyway.



Edit: now i see your reactions below can edit better here: ever was about 5 full days on the phone with MS support where in the first couple of hours i was left without a working system. In the next 4,5 day they tried to put some things right, till they decided to send me a new install cd-rom, forgot by now what i all lost, but this was all before i ever found DCS. Have needed them several times more till they decided that was only possible for pay per question. In the meantime they asked if i wanted to come over and work there because of what they thought my experience (yeah really, i still need lots of support myself and i don't blame it standard on the customer)
Anyway DCS support opened a whole new world and it's always good to see the team dropping in here to support us!

 

I to have tried to get Mcafee suport on thier free trial from dell E-mailed them. after 5 days of noreply. I uninstalled them. A day later I got a reply. Boyyyyythier Goooood!

 

OK, OK Enough of this, let's try and keep on topic, Port Eplorer I think it was?

Knocking other vendor's support should be posted in, maybe - Polls, Ten Forward or Software Services

Thanks. Pilli

 

Port explorer is good, DCs is nice, Jason is fine, translation team all great, PE users all happy, what more do we want? PE on every computer! that's great!

 

Hi folks,
Having another go at PE. Now running Outpost and KAV.
We'll see how that goes. After trying a couple of FW tests with McAfee and not passing one of them, I've moved to something else/better. I'm eager to see your program in action.

Bruce

 

Happy testing! Let's hear all about your experiences with PE !
Good you're testing for a safer firewall too in the meantime.
Your next step ProcessGuard if you are on XP and have PE running fine?

 

Thanks Jooske.
PG bluescreens me everytime on reboot. PE works fine as does TDS3. Do I really need PE when TDS has alot of the same capabilties? (ie, whois, whereis?) I'm still learning how they both operate. I was interested in running PG because from time to time my machine makes a strange move where it seems to almost reboot itself. It happens so quickly that I haven't been able to quite find the source, but I'm still looking. All scans come back negative. All programs up to date.

This post could possibly be moved but I'm sure someone will do so if needed.

Thanks all,
Bruce

 

TDS is primarely a Trojan detector and killer, Port Explorer can see all your connection in real time and has many other useful functions such as the packet sniffer and individual control of connections, yes there is some overlap but both are quite different in their aims.
Process Guard is another very useful new application which can protectd against many threats (especially the new ones such as RootKits) without the need for daily updates.

Also look at CryptoSuite which gives you the ability to Encrypt your personal files, folders and the ability to use encrypted chat to message other CS users.

As discussed on these forums many times there is no such thing as 100% security and no single application such as a firewall, AV or AT are 100% effective, so the best way of reducing the chance of infection is by using a layered protection approach and, yes, there will be some overlap.

HTH. Pilli

 

Having said that (thanks Pilli), the WHOIS in Port Explorer is much better than that in TDS, and anyone should use the PE utilities instead if they purchased it. There is much less chance of there being a bug due to much newer, revised code and rewritten code

 

How's that for the portrefs list Gavin? Is that the same?
Agree, loving the PE utilities for ease, speed and results.
Be it that it can be so very nice to paste found domains or IPs in TDS target host to do some stuff...
PE is working very nice together with CS as well to keep an eye who you're connected with and eventually disable sending / receiving while the packets in TDS port listen or TCP connect are encrypted unreadable stuff. I really love that!
Now i wished it was also possible to see which road our packets take on and back outside our computer, more then a traceroute, so we can also look if our communication is tapped somewhere along the line.
Ahh i love CS more by the day!
So yes, PE watchfull eye on straight delivery or warnign where it is tapped!

 

Portrefs are the same, but again PE is probably easier to use and understand. I'll try to add a newer portref soon for both programs, these are only updated about monthly. This should be ok since seeing a certain port open is rarely very conclusive of an infection

 

Ahh, glad to see I'm not the only dumb butt, reflections

Way back on 6/13/2003;After buying PE, and seeking help; Jason's reply;

"Hi Martin,
I suggest you learn how to use your firewall if you are going to have one
installed! . I havn't used MCAfee's firewall so I am not too sure, but it
should be relatively simple. Try reading the MCAfee helpfile and posting a
question on the Port Explorer forum asking for help on how to configure it.

Port Explorer Forum"

I erroneously thought that PE would help me learn about the PORTS, firewalls and how it all works, wrong, wrong. So after a year, and $30 poorer, I still hope for a solution from somebody!

Keeping the faith, patiently,..waiting...