I need to buy a router so have been reading posts about this topic. I have found several posts/pages that talk about using a router as a firewall...also use it as part of the total antivirus protection for the home/system. Some people have mentioned using an older pc to function as a router or to function with a router to work as a firewall, antivirus, etc. Can someone give me the big picture here of what people are talking about? All I can find on the web are the trees, not the forest :(
Most home routers have a firewall built in. It's nothing on the enterprise level but will suffice for home use. Using an old PC you can have some what of an enterprise type hardware firewall that you can place in between your router and your internet source for that added security. There are a few specialized Linux distros, such as Smoothwall http://www.smoothwall.org/, that can achieve just that. However, do note that with this added security, you will lose functionality. You will have to manually configure the hardware firewall for incoming and outgoing ports in order to restore functionality for applications and services. You can also monitor traffic and set up parental controls. But again most newer routers can already do just that. A decent router coupled with a good security policy along with your existing anti virus and firewall software should suffice.
NAT in a router is all I have used for years along with firewall program with XP and older OSs.
Vista and Win 7 I just use the built in firewall. Also a good Antivirus program and Malware program.
How NAT works, which is listed a lot of times as a firewall.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/nat.htm
Thanks! The knowledge and links are very helpful and appreciated. I like webpage links almost as much as I like sausage links :D
Does having a dynamic or static IP address factor into network security anywhere? Is one more/less secure than another? If I use a computer with a linux distro on it, I still need a hub to allow access to multiple users - either cabled or wireless. Will this pc be dedicated - or mostly dedicated - for this purpose? I have a pentium d that sounds like it would easily do the trick but I would like to connect a 2 tb hard drive to it to back up data to, as well as my printers, etc
You do not want a hub, a switch would be much faster and not relay everything, to everything connected to the switch.
For vpn purposes, a dedicated ip would make things easier.
Some of these links should help out. I googled " vpn ip addresses "
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=...w=1847&bih=936
Here is some good help for networking. The base page anyway.
http://www.ezlan.net/
Hi Aaron,
Long time no speak?...............my bad, but my wife finally succumbed to cancer, and it has taken me a while to sort myself out.
Have you considered the concept of entering a banking system and paying off a loan, or increasing a credit limit?
Seems to me that all security is aimed at unauthorised withdrawals these days?
:p