Re: Soft or hard fw?

From: Bit Twister (BitTwister@localhost.localdomain)
Date: 12/26/02 

From: Bit Twister <BitTwister@localhost.localdomain>
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 2002 23:09:15 GMT

On Wed, 25 Dec 2002 23:50:20 +0100, Christian Ragnarsson wrote:
> About six months ago I purchased a d-link 804. The main purpose was to
> connect two different computers to the internet and be able to share files
> between these two computers. I'm very happy with the d-link, but I'm
> thinking about a couple of things;
>
> * Is the hardware firewall better than the software ones (zone alarm, kerio
> etc).

Depends on what you wanted. As an example Zone Alarm traps outbound
requests. Did your harware firewall (HFW) complain after you told ZA Ok?
If the answer is no, you could might downloaded a trojan,
and it could open a hole and call home. ZA would ask you if it is ok
your HFW would let the trojan pass whatever it wanted.

> * The d-link can use something called dmz to expose one of the computers to
> the network. Is this a good thing to do if the exposed computer has a good
> software firewall?

If you have such a GOOD firewall software there would be no requirement
for the hardware firewall.

> Main reason for this would be to not have the hassel of
> redirecting ports every time you try a new online game or a new filesharing
> software.

Weigh the cost. If your DMZ puter gets cracked, used for stealing
credit card numbers, cracking other sites, getting into a banking
system, the police hauls you and all your equipment to jail.
Just how lazy to you want to be.
 
> * Would dmz:ing one of the computers prevent filesharing with my other
> computer?

Oh, you want to create a tunnel from the DMZ to the lan,
shoot, just put both in the DMZ.

Relevant Pages

  • Recovery from total hack
    ... testing the firewall a few weeks ago. ... DMZ and turn on the firewall! ... Sure enough, Dameware mini remote is running, ... computers in the house completely with negative results, ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.security)
  • Re: Black,Blue,andBlack again
    ... then me rebooting more times than I can count. ... seriously and have always used ZoneAlarm, ... This way in the past we have been able to stop our computers from being ... We have now tried using another firewall software called Sygate Personal ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Re: Sharing a printer
    ... Here are general network troubleshooting steps. ... Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall; or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not permit it. ... On the assumption that you in fact do have a router that connects to the Internet and that your computers then connect to the router, then if you think that you have one IP for multiple computers then you probably are using a website tool such as http://whatismyip.com/ That shows the your public IP address -- the one that the rest of the world sees. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web)
  • Re: cannot get XP printer to share with vista PC
    ... You have to set up file/printer sharing first. ... a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful ... put all computers in the same Workgroup. ... Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.networking_sharing)
  • Re: Reverting Wireless to Wired Network.
    ... I worked with Norton Firewall (disabling, ... telling me to talk to my "network administrator". ... Now none of the three computers can talk to anything, ... > uninstalled a firewall program, reinstall it and then uninstall it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web)