Firewall Win98

I'm currently running ZoneAlarm 4.5 edition in my Win98 OS. (This is a step down from the newer ZA edition which will not work in Win98). I had an analysis done on Shields Up and it indicated the one problem was "ping reply received".

I'm wondering how serious this weakness is from a security standpoint. If this is a problem, perhaps someone could recommend another firewall. I should point out that I've tried Outpost and it bogged down my system. I also tried Sygate but my system wouldn't boot up with it installed. I don't mind paying for one if necessary.

 

Apparently, Shields Up doesn't provide the ping's source. How can I find out?

 

The source of the test's ping is the GRC server. It's part of the Shields Up test. The problem isn't the ping, it's your computer's response to it. Had it been a hacker instead, it would have told him there was an active computer at that IP address.