User’s Guide 143
McAfee Firewall
Itisreallyimportanttochooseapasswordthatotherswillnotguess.
Choosing words, such as "open sesame" is a poor choice becau se there are
password guessi ng programs th at systematically try every word in the
dictionary as well as common phrases, n ames, dates and other pred icatable
entries. It is better to choose several unrelated words, letters mixed w ith
numbers, or completely random characters. The more, the better. There are
password generation programs that can help y ou choose. They may help.
It is better to use a new password every time you make an impor tant
configuration change . Every file you create with a password is "valid" in that
McAf ee Firewall w ill se e that it matche s the passwo rd you used for it. Using a
new password prevents someone fr o m secretly r eplacing an older
configurat ion file for a newer one.
Trojans such as BO and Netbus can log keyboard stokes. Therefore, they can
loga password as you ty pe it. While McAfee Firewallhelpsy ou detect trojans,
you must be d iligent in keeping them of f your com put er(s) before t hey
compromise the security systems you pu t in place.
TIP: It is also good to have an anti-virus system such as McAfee
VirusScan installed on your computer to ensure protection from Trojans
and other known viruses.
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