Firewall - Hardware or Software - on/off

AlanD

Hi,

I have Smart broadband coming in to the house and have the following setup.

I have phone socket to Aolynk router to netopia wireless router (acting as bridge for wife's laptop for wireless broadband) to PC.

So since the Netopia wireless router has a built in firewall, do I need to have the Windows XP firewall or my Norton Internet Security Firewall turned on?

Can I rely on the firewall built in to the wireless router?

A

Foxwood

AlanD wrote:

Hi,

I have Smart broadband coming in to the house and have the following setup.

I have phone socket to Aolynk router to netopia wireless router (acting as bridge for wife's laptop for wireless broadband) to PC.

So since the Netopia wireless router has a built in firewall, do I need to have the Windows XP firewall or my Norton Internet Security Firewall turned on?

Can I rely on the firewall built in to the wireless router?

A NAT router (such as the Aolynk or the netopia) prevents unsolicited inbound connections, and will offer you better protection from such inbound connections than your software firewalls.

A software firewall can detect and notify you of outbound connections, so in theory at leats, you'll notice when you get infected with malware of some sort that starts reaching out to the internet, either to start trying to infect other machines, or to "phone home" for some reason.

In practice, those "do you want to allow XYZ to connect to the internet?" messages become so confusing and/or annoying that most people either turn them off, or blindly say yes to them.

For most users, a decent router with up to date AV software and occassional spyware scans is probably more effective than a software firewall. (And if Norton Internet Firewall is still as crappy as it used to be, don't just disable it, uninstall it).

AlanD

Thanks for the advice!

Firewalls off.......

depending on router firewall now.......

jor el

Foxwood wrote:

And if Norton Internet Firewall is still as crappy as it used to be, don't just disable it, uninstall it.

Agreed, it was on my sisters new laptop and I un-installed it straight away, still don't like it. Came free with my broadband from BT too and I used it for about a day, horrible program.

I'd stay clear of the XP firewall too as I don't trust anything that you can't configure. I use McAfee personal firewall mostly and find it excellent. I tell anyone I install it for to say no to all outbound connection requests, unless they know specifically what is requesting it (like if you update Firefox, or want an mp3 application to access cddb info). I'd say a good software firewall is still essential, to prevent any virus/malware that does get installed from doing any real damage.

Install Peer Guardian as well, it blocks known malicious sites.

jor el

AlanD wrote:

Firewalls off.......

I really wouldn't do that, give Zone Alarm a try, it's free.

AlanD

jor el wrote:

I really wouldn't do that, give Zone Alarm a try, it's free.

explain to me why not?

Will the router firewall not protect me or is it solely for blocking inbound connections? So a malicious program could still create an outbound connection if it installed on the machine?

uberpixie

AlanD wrote:

explain to me why not?

Will the router firewall not protect me or is it solely for blocking inbound connections? So a malicious program could still create an outbound connection if it installed on the machine?

You hit the nail right on the head.

Half of a firewalls job is preventing crap you download by "accident" when looking at certain websites/filesharing.

Having a software firewall is a good idea.

Have found memories of a housemate who did not use a firewall or anti virus because he thought the firewall on the router would be enough.

We eventually copped it, when the broadband connection kept dropping every 10 mins.:rolleyes:

AlanD

Firewall on again!! :rolleyes:

Foxwood

uberpixie wrote:

Have found memories of a housemate who did not use a firewall or anti virus because he thought the firewall on the router would be enough.

A software firewall won't help that sort of person, because they'll just disable the alerts.

There is NO substitute for an up-to-date AV package, and I bet whatever was infecting your housemates PC would have been caught by that.

DemonOfTheFall

The Netopia is grand, as long as you have up to anti-virus. I've only used the bog basic NAT built into a router for years now with no problems at all. NOD32 keeps me safe.