DSL Modem
- Thread starter tkl
- Start date
GeoffChan
Enlightened
I leave mine on as well.
Geoff
Geoff
yclo
Flashaholic*
Mine is plugged into a power board which also has my laptop adaptor, desk lamp, speakers. When the laptop goes off, I just switch off at the power socket. So technically I don't turn off my modem, but I turn off the power it's plugged in to.
Another question might be to the people that use desktops, do you leave your modems on even if you switch off the desktops? Or the desktop stays on?
-YC
Another question might be to the people that use desktops, do you leave your modems on even if you switch off the desktops? Or the desktop stays on?
-YC
Ours goes straight into a NAT Firewall/Router, by the way, so that I can access the internet at 1 AM in the basement even though the modem is on the other end of the house.
The fact that people connect these things right up to their computers still boggles my mind. A wireless NAT firewall is cheap protection (Shop around and you can get a decent wireless "G" router for less the cost of Norton Firewall) , and makes is easy for somebody else to jump onto your connection if they come over to visit, either wired or wireless.
Of course if you have more than 1 computer in the house, then you really have no excuse!
The fact that people connect these things right up to their computers still boggles my mind. A wireless NAT firewall is cheap protection (Shop around and you can get a decent wireless "G" router for less the cost of Norton Firewall) , and makes is easy for somebody else to jump onto your connection if they come over to visit, either wired or wireless.
Of course if you have more than 1 computer in the house, then you really have no excuse!
I have a disconnect button on the top of my modem(Motorola 4200). I can push it if I need to to disconnect from the net without turning my modem off. Most of the time it's on though. It's hooked into my firewall/router. I agree with Sabby, everybody needs that kinda cheap protection.
IlluminatingBikr
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
- Messages
- 2,320
I leave my cable modem and wireless router on 24/7/365. No problems so far.
gadget_lover
Flashaholic
If you leave it on you are most likely to keep the same IP address for an extended period of time.
If you turn it off periodically, you will reinitialize the options and take care of any memory leaks or open connections that have not dropped. The presence of memory leaks are impossible to detect in a normal DSL modem, but are possible.
That said, My DSL modem runs 24x7 and is only rebooted when a power failure locks up the DSL repeater between my house and the phone company. My cable modem is only turned off during a power failure.
Daniel
If you turn it off periodically, you will reinitialize the options and take care of any memory leaks or open connections that have not dropped. The presence of memory leaks are impossible to detect in a normal DSL modem, but are possible.
That said, My DSL modem runs 24x7 and is only rebooted when a power failure locks up the DSL repeater between my house and the phone company. My cable modem is only turned off during a power failure.
Daniel
geepondy
Flashlight Enthusiast
The only time I ever turn my DSL modem and router off is when I'm going on vacay for an extended length of time. Even when I turn the pc off which is not much, I leave it on. Don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing.
NewBie
*Retired*
I never turn mine off, except when there is lightning. Then I usually unplug the jack also, computers and all, including the power cords.
BF Hammer
Enlightened
I leave mine on 24/7. I have it connected to a hardware firewall/router/wireless access point. I decided to buy the router/firewall the first week I had dsl (3 years ago) when some spyware suddenly appeared on my PC only a day or so after the dsl was activated.
The hardware firewall solution isn't the tightest security available, but it does put an expendable piece of hardware between your PC and the internet.
The hardware firewall solution isn't the tightest security available, but it does put an expendable piece of hardware between your PC and the internet.
James S
Flashlight Enthusiast
A hardware router set to forward no incoming requests will protect you 100% from worms and other nasties that propagate by scanning the internet for undefended or unpatched windows machines. But will not do anything for nasties that make outgoing connections after you do something that installs them, like reading email that is infected or opening one of those attachments that includes them or whatnot. For that you need a real firewall that limits outgoing connections as well as incoming ones. Those do work, but if you do much more than websurfing and email on your PC then they can be complicated to setup and maintain to keep the services you want running and the services you don't not.
I consider a hardware or other router separate from your PC a very good investment. They are not expensive and offer a very nice layer of protection between you and the internet. Once you turn it on, your computer gets an IP address from the router that is not available to the internet. So I cannot send random packets of information to your PC unless you specifically setup your router to forward them. If you just connect your PC to the internet without one then I can enter your IP address and send DOS attacks, worms, whatever to you and if your machine happens to be vulnerable to one then I've got you.
I am suspicious of software firewall solutions that run on the same machine, after all the evil packet still has to get into your computer before it can be trapped with software and so there is the possibility that it won't get trapped by the software, or that the software will malfunction or be configured incorrectly. ALso there is the fact that in order to intercept packets at a low level the software firewall has to patch, or completely replace the TCP/IP stack in windows. And so potentially there are all kinds of reliability issues there, not to mention that each upgrade to windows will certain require potentially major upgrades to the firewall software to keep working and if you get out of sync you've either got even worse windows reliability or no networking or at least no protection.
A multi-tiered approach is best. A hardware firewall/router and anti-virus/intrusion software on the PC in question. You still have to invest the time and energy to keep all parts of it up to date as well.
There was a really fun article out recently that gave the average survival time of an unpatched or protected windows machine once connected to the internet. The time to infection, even if you don't do anything at all, is down to as little as 15 minutes. So just turning your DSL modem off at night wont stop your machine from getting infected unless you also maintain the OS and the software you use to protect yourself. But if you're already infected and you turn it off then it will keep your zombied machine from being used all night in DOS attacks against other machines. But if thats the case you should be fixing your machine and not just denying the crackers a few hours of it's use every day. The sheer speed at which these machines are found and hacked means that a LOT of people fail to do even the minimum required maintenance to make windows safe to have on the internet.
I consider a hardware or other router separate from your PC a very good investment. They are not expensive and offer a very nice layer of protection between you and the internet. Once you turn it on, your computer gets an IP address from the router that is not available to the internet. So I cannot send random packets of information to your PC unless you specifically setup your router to forward them. If you just connect your PC to the internet without one then I can enter your IP address and send DOS attacks, worms, whatever to you and if your machine happens to be vulnerable to one then I've got you.
I am suspicious of software firewall solutions that run on the same machine, after all the evil packet still has to get into your computer before it can be trapped with software and so there is the possibility that it won't get trapped by the software, or that the software will malfunction or be configured incorrectly. ALso there is the fact that in order to intercept packets at a low level the software firewall has to patch, or completely replace the TCP/IP stack in windows. And so potentially there are all kinds of reliability issues there, not to mention that each upgrade to windows will certain require potentially major upgrades to the firewall software to keep working and if you get out of sync you've either got even worse windows reliability or no networking or at least no protection.
A multi-tiered approach is best. A hardware firewall/router and anti-virus/intrusion software on the PC in question. You still have to invest the time and energy to keep all parts of it up to date as well.
There was a really fun article out recently that gave the average survival time of an unpatched or protected windows machine once connected to the internet. The time to infection, even if you don't do anything at all, is down to as little as 15 minutes. So just turning your DSL modem off at night wont stop your machine from getting infected unless you also maintain the OS and the software you use to protect yourself. But if you're already infected and you turn it off then it will keep your zombied machine from being used all night in DOS attacks against other machines. But if thats the case you should be fixing your machine and not just denying the crackers a few hours of it's use every day. The sheer speed at which these machines are found and hacked means that a LOT of people fail to do even the minimum required maintenance to make windows safe to have on the internet.
[ QUOTE ]
ALso there is the fact that in order to intercept packets at a low level the software firewall has to patch, or completely replace the TCP/IP stack in windows. And so potentially there are all kinds of reliability issues there,
[/ QUOTE ]
Don't eeeevveenn get me started. Did I mention I fix browsing problems for a living? Just say no to Norton Internet Security. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif
ALso there is the fact that in order to intercept packets at a low level the software firewall has to patch, or completely replace the TCP/IP stack in windows. And so potentially there are all kinds of reliability issues there,
[/ QUOTE ]
Don't eeeevveenn get me started. Did I mention I fix browsing problems for a living? Just say no to Norton Internet Security. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif
