SmoothWall Express 3.0 will wipe my hard drive

Asked By NLeigh 220 points N/A Posted on - 04/21/2011

Hello,

I received a recommendation to install SmoothWall Express 3.0 software firewall for my home network of five PCs. The instructions say that I boot to the CD, and run the installer which will wipe the hard disk before it installs.

What? Wipe the hard drive?

Any software that wants to clear my hard drive should end up in the trash can.

However, I can reinstall most of my software but for a firewall to do that it makes no sense.

 

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• Question Category: Misc Security

Best Answer by gmanor

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Answered By Simonk 0 points N/A #86814

SmoothWall Express 3.0 will wipe my hard drive

SmoothWall is a firewall designed to run on a dedicated computer on the perimeter of a small-business or home network and not on your windows computer. Upon installation, it replaces the existing OS with a specialized version of Linux. So, if you have any important data on your hard drive, you should back it up before installing SmoothWall.

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• Posted on - 04/21/2011
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Answered By gmanor 0 points N/A #86815

SmoothWall Express 3.0 will wipe my hard drive

Firewalls are a first line of defense of any network. Unlike SmoothWall Express, there are other firewall software that can be installed on your computer and are compatible with any version of windows. ETrust and Blackice are examples. ETrust is one such software that has a long and reliable history. However if you have budget constraints I will recommend installation of open source software like snort that works both with windows and Linux.

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• Posted on - 04/21/2011
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Answered By NLeigh 220 points N/A #86816

SmoothWall Express 3.0 will wipe my hard drive

Well, my home network consists of a laptop and 4 desktops. I will reconsider the installation of SmoothWall, though my kids need some exposure to a bit of Linux. As for snort I tried it some time back and the installation was hectic. Thanks simonk and gmanor, I think I will purchase a new PC and dedicate it to securing my network.

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• Posted on - 04/22/2011
• Question Category: Misc Security