Firewall question

[INFERNO2000 0]

Ok...

 

I have a router. It acts as a DHCP server and hardware firewall.

I have ZoneAlarm Pro..a software firewall.

 

 

with the router in place...what good does Zonealarm do me?

 

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My PC is warm. I think our fire wall is acting up.

[clutch 1]

Honestly? Not a lot. Since the strong point of a firewall is to limit what traffic can come in to a PC/Network from the outside, you will essentially have two filters overlapping each other. ZoneAlarm is a better firewall solution, but unless you are:

 

1. Serving a site or something and

2. Cannot adequately log transactions on that site

 

then there really isn't a pressing need for both.

 

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Regards,

 

clutch

[Cynan 0]

Excuse my ignorance, but how can a software firewall be better then a hardware one ? hmm ?

 

IMO, there is no need for a firewall, these so called personal firewalls are just hype. All you need is a good router that is setup properly.

 

--Cynan.

[INFERNO2000 0]

I left Zonealarm up for a few hours after connecting to the router...

 

usually I'd get messages saying I'd been pinged from the outside(usually the ISP) or something along those lines.

 

 

nothing came through..no pings, no alerts, nothing.

 

these IPs have been changed....

 

External IP(the one the router has) is

123.123.123.123

 

the internal IP(what my computer has when I do ipconfig) is

100.100.0.2(100.100.0.1 being the address of the router, if I were to telnet into it from within the LAN)

 

 

My parents have a computer(Win98) downstairs with a different IP.

 

How could I, from my parents computer, attempt to access my computer, just to see if I can get through the router's firewall protection?

 

 

 

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My PC is warm. I think our fire wall is acting up.

[OLEerror 0]

I just recently installed ZoneAlarm even though I have a router. This isn't to protect my computer from outside. It is to keep unwanted programs from sending information out. So far I've been pleased with it. And haven't seen any performance degradation on either computer it is installed on.

[clutch 1]

Quote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Cynan:
Excuse my ignorance, but how can a software firewall be better then a hardware one ? hmm ?

IMO, there is no need for a firewall, these so called personal firewalls are just hype. All you need is a good router that is setup properly.

--Cynan.</font>

Simple, the "firewall" that he says he has is actually a NAT system. It isn't a real firewall, as ZoneAlarm is. A true hardware firewall (like a Cisco PIX) would be better still, since the hardware and software are integrated for the task at hand. And as far as "hype" goes, you evidently have not been scanned for open ports before. Even if you do your best to go to "safe" sites, you can get a sweep by an unknown server joining games or what have you. It happens, and it happens regularly. The best thing about these simple firewalls (and NAT) is that NetBIOS is controlled along with other unwanted normal traffic. This one guy I knew would go "shopping" on the computers in his neighborhood for MP3s and other misc stuff when cable first came out a few years ago to his area. Now, while most broadband providers control traffic by locking ports, you can still get hit with weaknesses of your own system. For instance, most people install OSs by their defaults, or check on options so they can play with them. PWS (Peer Web Services) used to get installed on a lot of machines, and then the ASP exploits would be used to get anything from raw ASP code, to access to other non-web directories. Using a firewall or NAT, you can control who comes in from the outside, that way you can work on your system without being pestered by script-kiddies and the like.

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Regards,

clutch

[Cynan 0]

Actually I have been scaned, and I did use ZoneAlarm at one point. Now I use a router, allowing only certain ports (that I want) to be accessiable outside. I see no reason to have a firewall on top of that.

 

--Cynan.

[clutch 1]

Bingo. It's only good if you don't have logging, yet you are paranoid. I am not concerned about apps getting out. But, some want another layer between them and the world. Can't fault them for it.

 

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Regards,

 

clutch

[Cynan 0]

Indeed. I believe programs like RealPlayer send info. outside. Grrr @ it.

 

--Cynan.

[INFERNO2000 0]

I don't use Realplayer

 

and I'm less worried about what goes out than what can come in.

 

Granted I've never had a trojan...(knocking on wood as I speak)but my parents have...so they're paranoid. And I won't share my router

 

 

 

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My PC is warm. I think our fire wall is acting up.