Newbie security question

From: Lynn Malmberg (lynnmalmberg2_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 09/29/03 

Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 03:31:37 GMT

We have Earthlink DSL to our home network, utilizing Netgear M814v2 router
to three computers via MA111 wireless adapters. The router is configured
for MAC, 124 bit encryption, SSID broadcast disabled. I have NAV2004
running on all three computers.

In addition to surfing the web, here are the primary uses:

Computer 1 Windows 98SE - my computer...home finances, e-mail
Computer 2 Windows ME - teenage daughter...primarily AIM, some word
processing for school work
Computer 3 Windows ME - teenage son....primarily AIM and online games

Do I need a software firewall or is the Netgear router sufficient? Also, my
husband is very concerned about the connection being always on and wants the
individual computers and/or the modem, powered off when not in use. The
kids want to keep their machines on 24/7 in order to leave their AIM away
messages up (sort of like an answering machine). Is that asking for
trouble?

Thanks for any answers you can provide. I'm just trying to keep peace in
the family and strike a happy medium between being stupidly naive and being
overly paranoid.

Lynn

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