thanks everyone!
i will be sure to try OpenBSD and Solaris....i never even thought of experimenting with different OSes before haha...thanks

Heres a newb question for yah (sorry):
If i scan a computer on my network from another computer on my network using its LAN ip, will that give me the proper results? Would that be the same thing as if i didnt have a firewall/router and was scanning the computer from outside the network (thats what I want..)?