Helping with mIRC since 1995
Netscape Editors Choice Site

There are two lines of defense against Denial of Service (nuke) and other types of malicious attacks on your computer. One is installing a firewall.

You can check your security at: https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

In addition to "nuke" attacks, your computer can be compromised by computer viruses and trojans. These are programs that hide in files you download and install and do things to your computer that you do not want done to it. These things can range from minor annoyances, such as disconnecting your connection to the internet, to the ability to control your computer by anyone anywhere in the world as if the exploiter were sitting at your keyboard. They can see all files on your computer, including all passwords. They have the ability to delete everything on your computer and damage your hardware.

Such computer viruses and trojans are easily prevented with a virus scanner and a trojan scanner that is fully enabled and always kept up-to-date.

The following website has an excellent description of the various firewalls and virus and trojan scanners and where to get them: http://www.hackfix.org/software