Re: guidance sought


On 30-Mar-2006, "JIP" <JIP@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have a home network using a Linksys WAG54G router, WEP enabled, all
computers using Win XP (some Pro, some Home). I surf, email, download
from
bona-fide sites, usenet (text only).

There is reference to the router having a built in firewall and it is
active.

I also have the Win XP firewall active on all computers.

From browsing and asking questions in this group I have removed software
"firewalls".

I believe that most of those are personal opinions, there are still a lot
of people that agree that software firewalls are (usually) good things.
It depends on which one you use and how you set it up.


So two questions now - i) is the router's firewall sufficient and ii)
could
someone point me to references that will guide me through the XP
settings to
maximise security from attack and control outgoings.


The WindowsXP firewall only blocks incoming, it does not even look at
outgoing, pretty much what your router already does.
Again, there seems to be a very vocal group here saying to turn off / do
not use software firewalls, I just wonder if that has anything to do with
the million machine bot-net that was just 'discovered'. When someone
tells me to turn off my firewall, I _seriously_ wonder about their
motivation for such advice. It may be fine for them, but they may be
forgetting that everyone that comes here is not up to their level in
understanding this stuff.
So, with the router and XP firewall on, you should be fairly well covered
from unrequested incoming stuff, but if anything is already on, or somehow
gets onto your machine, they will not even blink an eye when all of a
sudden your machine is sending out 1,000 emails an hour. Actually, for
that, even other firewall programs will let them go out _if_ you have
given the sending program permission, but the router and XP firewall will
not even ask.

Thanks

You are welcome.
--
We apologize for the inconvenience
.

Relevant Pages

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