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Posted by Leythos on July 21, 2007, 11:39 pm
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> > nasra...@yahoo.com says...
> >
> > > Hi there,
> >
> > > I have a PC built for me, and I installed Windows XP SP2 on it. I
> > > presume I need to put a firewall and antivirus on it to ward off worms
> > > and viruses. I am more concerned about the firewall. I installed
> > > ZoneAlarm Free Edition, and it worked al'right. However, it always
> > > bothered me by asking me to pay up, so that I uninstalled it. My
> > > computer is currently running on the in-built Windows firewall. Is
> > > this OK ?
> >
> > > As an antivurus, I am using AVG Free Edition, and it seems doing its
> > > job. Also, I can get a corporate edition of Trend Micro's PC-cillin
> > > from my employer for little money; should I get it ? Thanks.
> >
> > A simple NAT router will do more and better than ZAP or Windows XP
> > Firewall in most all cases. Linksys BEFSR41 or a wireless version is
> > under $50 and provides protection from inbound attacks.
>
> My early experience with connecting a PC with no firwall to the
> Internet (via dial up) shows that it gets infected with a worm within
> 20 minutes. So that now I always put a firewall between my PC and the
> Internet. Now my PC is connected to the Internet via a NetComm NB5
> ADSL2+ modem router. You think this will repel the worms ?
The NAT router blocks "unsolicited" connections to the PC, it's sort of
a 1 way filter - it lets you out, but only lets external sites
talk/reach your PC if you contact them first.
Many people use NAT routers are their primary protection method with no
firewall at all and have no problems.
Security is more than the firewall, it's not using easy to compromise
apps, keeping updates installed, not doing things that put you in harms
way, monitoring your firewall logs (as you can easily monitor the
Linksys devices for in/out traffic), and many other things.
If your address is not a private address then your Modem is not doing
NAT, and if you have a live public IP then you're screwed wi | 
