Firewalls

All,

I have a Linksys WAG200G router which works really well. Complete with a firmware update.
My question is that as the router has a built in firewall and I am using the VISTA Home Professional firewall too - Do I really need both?

I suspect it is a bit silly to have both working, so I would propose to turn off the VISTA firewall?

Would that still give enough protection?
Which is the better and most effective firewall?

What do you guys do?

Cheers

It is good to have a software and a hardware firewall active. I would
leave it alone.


--
KingOfChaos

Since my router has other computers connect to it, I have the routers firewall on as well as the firewall on all of my other computers. If I inadvertently don't have a computers firewall on, I still have some protection from the routers firewall. So I would leave both firewalls on.
You might want to turn of the routers firewall if you had an internet server you wanted the rest of the world to be able to access. Though there is port forwarding that you can use in the router for that as well.
"Crispy500" <> wrote in message news:ep7li%...
All,

I have a Linksys WAG200G router which works really well. Complete with a firmware update.
My question is that as the router has a built in firewall and I am using the VISTA Home Professional firewall too - Do I really need both?

I suspect it is a bit silly to have both working, so I would propose to turn off the VISTA firewall?

Would that still give enough protection?
Which is the better and most effective firewall?

What do you guys do?

Cheers

Keep both on for added protection - I do.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
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"Crispy500" <> wrote in message
news:ep7li%...
All,

I have a Linksys WAG200G router which works really well. Complete with a
firmware update.
My question is that as the router has a built in firewall and I am using the
VISTA Home Professional firewall too - Do I really need both?

I suspect it is a bit silly to have both working, so I would propose to turn
off the VISTA firewall?

Would that still give enough protection?
Which is the better and most effective firewall?

What do you guys do?

Cheers

Crispy500 wrote:
> All,
>
> I have a Linksys WAG200G router which works really well. Complete with a firmware update.
> My question is that as the router has a built in firewall and I am using the VISTA Home Professional firewall too - Do I really need both?
>
> I suspect it is a bit silly to have both working, so I would propose to turn off the VISTA firewall?
>
> Would that still give enough protection?
> Which is the better and most effective firewall?
>
> What do you guys do?
>
> Cheers


If you use a router with NAT, it's still a very good idea to use a
software firewall that can monitor out-going traffic. NAT-capable
routers do nothing to protect the user from him/herself (or any
"curious," over-confident teenagers in the home). Again -- and I cannot
emphasize this enough -- almost all spyware and many Trojans and worms
are downloaded and installed deliberately (albeit unknowingly) by the
user. So a software firewall, such as Vista's native firewall, Comodo,
Sygate or ZoneAlarm, that can detect and warn the user of unauthorized
out-going traffic is an important element of protecting one's privacy
and security, by alerting you to an unwanted malware application's
activity. (Remember: Most antivirus applications do not even scan for or
protect you from adware/spyware, because, after all, you've installed
them yourself, so you must want them there, right?)

When I ran WinXP, I used both a router with NAT and Sygate Personal
Firewall, even though I generally know better than to install scumware.
Now that I'm using Vista, I still use a software firewall (Vista's)
in addition to my router. When it comes to computer security and
protecting my privacy, I prefer the old "belt and suspenders" approach.
In the professional IT community, this is also known as a "layered
defense." Basically, it comes down to never, ever "putting all of your
eggs in one basket."

Having said that, it's important to remember that firewalls and
anti-virus applications, which should always be used and should always
be running, while important components of "safe hex," cannot, and should
not be expected to, protect the computer user from him/herself.
Ultimately, it is incumbent upon each and every computer user to learn
how to secure his/her own computer.


--

Bruce Chambers

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