What's a good firewall for Win2K?

[Brian R.]

I am starting to use DSL tomorrow and need a firewall for Win2k and Win98. Something that's very simple to use, stable, inoccuous and reliable. I don't want to load anything that will cause me downtime from the web.

Any recommendations? Cost is not a serious problem.

[xortam]

Ask Dr Mordrid about his Linksys Cable/DSL router/switch.

[Brian R.]

Will try that link tomorrow. Couldn't access it tonight.

[dZeus]

what kind of firewall do you want? to secure your pc?

then you should buy BlackICE... no difficult installation and configuration, and does the job very well..

[Scytale]

For SOHO/home I like WinRoute (Pro). It's rock solid and simple, but with pretty cool features for home use. ICSA certified. You can check it out (and download from) http://www.winroute.com

[Jammrock]

I have one of those Linksys DSL/Cable Internet Braodband firewall, router, DHCP server, etc. thingies. It's very nice. It allows you to share you Internet connection with up to 253 people. PLUS it doesn't take up any of your precious CPU time to run it.

Just plug your DSL modem into the WAN uplink port, setup the router via a web browser from your computer. Turn on DHCP in the network properties and away you go. Highly recommend it.

Jammrock

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Athlon 650, Biostar board, 128 MB PC133 (Crucial), G400 32 MB DH, SB Live! w/ Digital I/O, 10/100 NIC, lots of case fans, etc...

[Brian R.]

I just want protction against unauthorized entry into my HD or memory from the internet.

[cjolley]

I second the motion for the linksys router.
Setup is a no-brainer. If you use DHCP it's plug&play simple. If not, you will have to enter your IP address on a web page inside (!) the router. That's it.
It's fire wall feature now supports stealth. (non response to pings)
It has upgreadable firmware, so it's features keep improving.
chuck

[LAMFDTK]

I need some advice here...

I have SDSL setup with 3 static IP's and a bunch of DNS's. THe router that I have is a Lucent DSL Pipe that has 4 ports. I want a hardware firewall solution. I am currently using Zone Alarm on all the systems. Now,

To run a network and be behind a firewall and use the Lucent router...

All configs have to be behind the router. therfore I must have the network switch and the firewall setup and then go through the router. This blows because I can't use the ports in the router. Any Ideas? I have looked into the Linksys and the D-link products.

[This message has been edited by LAMFDTK (edited 25 July 2000).]

[Jammrock]

The LinkSYS firewall/router/DHCP server thing has the ability to operate with other routers on a network. So if you want to use the Lucent router and the LinkSYS router you can.

The other option would be to setup one of your computers as a proxy/firewall. That would put a pretty heavy load on it if all computers were runing at once, but it would work. Basically that would make that one computer a router with firewall and everything else would hide behind it.

Jammrock

[Scytale]

Tsk tsk tsk... Hardware firewalls may look pretty in their neat little boxes but often these are just buggy and unflexible software running on some funky vendor built OS...in a nice plastic box. The result is limited firewall functionality and security and bug fixes coming late or even never. Not that it matters because the client doesn't have a clue anyway.... they're already happy when they get their IP packets through =)

Chuck - dropping packets (like ICMP) can be done with any software firewall. It's just packet filtering (dropping really).

LAMFDTK - that's what you get in your setup. Multiple ports on the router are pretty much useless unless the router contains a firewall. Your Lucent router may have packet filtering, you should check it out. If it doesn't you will have to connect a fw to a single port and forget about the other ports. By itslef it's not a problem because you can connect as many systems as you like on a NAT capable firewall, using a single IP.

[Taz]

Lets face it all a Firewall is, is a fancy packet filter, most decent routers support packet filtering so if you can invest the time and effort you can achieve the same results.

[Rick]

Does the Linksys support PPPoE?

[Scytale]

You're right, the core is always simple packet filtering, and when it's done right packet filtering may/will be all you really need. However there are a bunch of issues to consider when choosing for hardware or software:

The obvious advantage of hardware is that you can stop thinking about the hardware and don't have to bring in yet another PC. Everything is in one neat litle box, pretty clean. What you bought is what you get. In most cases that will be an embedded 68000 or -if you're lucky- a 386 with a few MB of memory.
The disadvantage is that you may want more than that, and that you can't run anything else on the 'sealed' box. No, there's no SETI@home for LinkSYS

Another thing to consider is versatility. Most software firewalls are full featured with NAT, DHCP, DNS, POP3, SMTP, proxy cache/filtering and much more. All that stuff just does not fit in a router but it does add to the fun.

Then there's the OS. I know NT4 and it has become very reliable after about six service packs. I can't say the same for the OS yet another router incorporates. Security updates? Fixes?

Finally the interface. Software firewalls can use WIN32 and COM like any other app so that's pretty much up to standards, where the interface of routers and switches is mostly based on GUIfying of TTY commands. It can be done well, but often it isn't.

There are more issues, but typing is so damn boring =)

[cjolley]

Rick,
Yes, PPPoE support came out in the last firmware update.
chuck