More Paradise Poker Paranoia

I have started playing at Paradise. Like most people I am concerned about possible cheating. A friend says I absolutely need a firewall. He says that he has installed a series of programs on his computer that tell him if someone is trying to hack into his computer while he is playing to get screen shots. He says he has had 5 or 6 attempts from people to hack his computer. I don't know much about firewalls, or the software necessary to hack into other people's computers. Is this really a problem at paradise or is my friend just paranoid? Do any of you more computer literate players use protective software, and have you detected hacking attempts?


As far as my online experience has gone so far, I am up (but not enough hours played yet to really tell anything). I have witnessed the "irregularities" at paradise firsthand. I have seen the ridiculous suckouts and the peculiar flops. It seems to me like players are flopping good hands too often. I seems like the number of good hands being made/dealt are non-random. I have seen more sets turned and rivered than I have ever seen in the casino. The game seems skewed against the raisers. The guy raising with AK flops an ace and has his heads-up preflop opponent with 22 flops a set. Obviously PP would benefit from "massaging" the shuffle to generate more action. This type of phenomenon seems randomly distributed, that is to say, everyone gains/loses equally, only the pots are bigger. I don't think it would really affect a good player's expectation much. JMHO.

A firewall will not help you not be cheated at PP. If you are running Windows, anyone attempting to see your cards would need to have already infected your computer with a virus. There isn't anything they can do in Windows because there isn't any ability to run things remotely. Hence, if your computer is not infected with the virus, you do not need a firewall, and if your computer is infected with the virus, as firewall will provide minimal protection at best. But, like I said below, if you have this virus, poker at paradise is not the biggest of your worries.

i'm not the best with computers. actually i know close to nothing. how can i detect and get rid of this virus? thanks.


PG

Will Norton Antivirus detect this virus? I haven't updated my Norton files for sometime, is this virus a recent one that will need updating to detect?


Thanks.

I don't know any of the specifics about the virus, but getting an updated virus scanner is about the best you can. If you get the latest version of MacAfee it will be able to detect all the viruses which the makers know about. Again, I don't know enough about the screen viewing virus to be sure that it can be detected and destroyed, but if it can, then McAfee can probably do it.

You probably will have to update Norton, though as I said in my reply to PG, I don't know. If you get the latest version of Norton Antivirus, and it doesn't find anything, you can be reasonably sure that the virus is not on your computer.

would reformatting my hard drive erase any and all viruses?


PG

Because of the Code Red Worm, all computers on the Internet are regularly getting probed. My home firewall shows around 100 probes in the last 24 hours. Most of these probes are the Code Red Worm looking for a Win2k or NT machines running the Microsoft IIS web server. Since I am running Win98 and do not run a web server, these probes are completely harmless, even without a firewall. A few of the probes are looking for some remote control Trojan virus like Sub7 or BackOrifice. I don't have these Trojans on my machine, so these probes are completely harmless.


These probes of your computer could be described as "attempts to hack into your computer". Unless you have gotten your computer infected with one of the Trojan viruses or are running the Microsoft IIS web server on NT or Win2k and have not installed the security patch, you don't have much to worry about.


As Lenny indicated above good updated anti-virus software is your best security precaution.

Do yourself a favor. #1= Install a firewall, you can get ZoneAlarm for free and it works great. I get about 50 to 100 attempts to get into my system in a 2hr. session of poker. #2= Subscribe to a virus protection like McAfee which updates automatically. Cost you $19.95 when they run a special.They have been great for me. #3= Enjoy yourself and stop worrying.

If you use a cable modem it is IMPARITIVE that you have some form of firewall protection. (I use black ice) With a cable modem your IP address begins w/ a 24. That means you are connected 24 hrs a day. (We pay a flat fee for unlimited internet use, so when puter is on, we are connected to internet). Many people for whom you need protection from often search for any active IP adress that begins with that 24. Not being an experienced computer person, I'm not sure what all the different Port probes mean. It was explained to me that someone can access your computer, so they can use your computer to do things they shouldnt be. Another reason is to gain access to your computer so they can access some files of importance. (your money manager, pay online programs, etc) If caught, the problem falls on your lap. Most are trojan probes (looking for programs that you may have accidently loaded that allow others to access your computer), different port probes are often tried. Once again, I'm not qualified to give technical details, just wanted to inform everyone that use a cable modem to get some firewall protection. We average about 15-20 "attacks/probes" per day.