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"Firewall Help?"

Hi folks could some one possibly help me out here. I am going onto Freeola Broadband next Wednesday, cant wait! we have four computers in the house (husband wife and two children) I have bought the E Tec asdl router from Freeola and a think I understand how it all goes together, seems straight forward enough.

My question is about FIREWALL? what is it? how do I get? build? one and where do I put it? i.e. on every PC? in the router? I have no idea and what one should I buy? or download from the net?

any advice or help much appreciated.

Kev

Hi folks could some one possibly help me out here. I am going onto Freeola Broadband next Wednesday, cant wait! we have four computers in the house (husband wife and two children) I have bought the E Tec asdl router from Freeola and a think I understand how it all goes together, seems straight forward enough.

My question is about FIREWALL? what is it? how do I get? build? one and where do I put it? i.e. on every PC? in the router? I have no idea and what one should I buy? or download from the net?

any advice or help much appreciated.

Kev

You won't need a hardware firewall - a software firewall will be sufficient. You install this onto each PC you have. Are all the computers running Windows XP? If so, have they been updated with Service Pack 2?

Nimco wrote:
> You won't need a hardware firewall - a software firewall will be
> sufficient. You install this onto each PC you have. Are all the
> computers running Windows XP? If so, have they been updated with
> Service Pack 2?

Hi no all our PC's or running windows 98 SE whats the differance between a hardware and software firewall?

A hardware firewall is a physical object with sits between you and your internet connection and its task is to protect you. These are usually only used in very security conscious environments - e.g. corporate environments.

If you've got Windows 98SE, then your best bet is probably something like ZoneAlarm Family Edition - totally free ([URL]http://www.zonelabs.com[/URL]).

If you upgrade any of them to Windows XP, then you can use the built-in firewall.

There are plenty of free options available - you shouldn't need to buy anything. Other people round here may well recommend some other products as well - see what they suggest.

FYI - As you've gone for a Router, this does infact have a firewall built in (using something called NAT), so already this is much more secure than an ADSL Modem.

If you want to look at an additional S/W (free) firewall then I can recommend Kerio.

Hmmm... wrote:
> FYI - As you've gone for a Router, this does infact have a firewall
> built in (using something called NAT), so already this is much more
> secure than an ADSL Modem.

Assuming he uses NAT....

Nimco wrote:
> Hmmm... wrote:
> FYI - As you've gone for a Router, this does infact have a firewall
> built in (using something called NAT), so already this is much more
> secure than an ADSL Modem.
>
> Assuming he uses NAT....

Unless they turn it off, it comes enabled on the ETec router.

Fair enough.

Would you mind popping back to this forum and giving a little review of the Freeola Broadband service once you've given it a go?

To be honest, a firewall is not a priority if your computers connect to the internet via a router. The primary purpose of firewalls for a spod like you or I is to protect our computers from incoming connection attempts from nasties on the internet (prolific worms like you hear about every-so-often on the news typically spread this way). A broadband router like the one you've purchased will do this quite nicely. Proper firewalls also do other natty stuff like monitor outgoing connections and so on, but the average home user has no need for functionality like this.

Also, I would advocate against installing software firewalls like zonealarm. While they won't break your internet connection and they certainly won't make your PC any less secure, they can cause all sorts of mischief if you try and get your PCs to talk to each other (sharing files/playing multiplayer games) and will slow your computer and/or connection down marginally.