Antivirus + Firewall set up for home network

  • Thread starter Thread starter Simon Howson
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Simon Howson

I am about to make a new home network. I am going to connect my old
computer, and a new computer to a router so that I can share my cable
modem internet between the two computers.

I am still deciding exactly what parts to use in the new computer, but
am leaning towards using an nForce 4 Ultra chipset based mainboard. I
understand that this chipset contains a hardware firewall. Does that
mean on that computer that I do not need to use a software firewall?
Does it mean that it is best to set the Windows XP Firewall OFF and
simply revert to the hardware firewall as present on the nForce 4 chipset?

Also, I understand that some routers contain a hardware firewall. Is it
best just to turn this function off, then use software (or the nForce
hardware) firewall on the actual PCs? What I'm wondering is will too
many hardware and software firewalls simply conflict with each other,
rather than increasing security?

The other issue is AntiVirus. I definatley want a good commercial virus
scanner for the new computer, and thought that I may as well take
advantage of any discount offers to buy two licenses. I have installed
the trial version of Kaspersky on my old computer, and it actually found
a virus on my system that previous scans with AVG Free had not found.
Hence I was quite impressed. Does anyone suggest that I get an
integrated AntiVirus & Firewall system? I have used Sygate Personal
Firewall for a couple of years and it SEEMS to work fine. Is it worth
upgrading to a commercial firewall?

Simon Howson
 
I am about to make a new home network. I am going to connect my old
computer, and a new computer to a router so that I can share my cable
modem internet between the two computers.

I am still deciding exactly what parts to use in the new computer, but
am leaning towards using an nForce 4 Ultra chipset based mainboard. I
understand that this chipset contains a hardware firewall. Does that
mean on that computer that I do not need to use a software firewall?
Does it mean that it is best to set the Windows XP Firewall OFF and
simply revert to the hardware firewall as present on the nForce 4
chipset?

Also, I understand that some routers contain a hardware firewall. Is
it best just to turn this function off, then use software (or the
nForce hardware) firewall on the actual PCs? What I'm wondering is
will too many hardware and software firewalls simply conflict with
each other, rather than increasing security?
Click to expand...

If you're talking about a Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, or Belkin routers etc
for home usage, they have NAT and maybe SPI and some FW like features.
But they don't have a FW. You cannot turn NAT off on a router and you
cannot turn the FW off on a FW appliance.

A NAT router meets the specs in the link.

http://tinyurl.com/6agku

The NAT router cannot stop outbound traffic and some people supplement
the NAT router with a personal FW that can stop outbound.

An applinace with a true FW will stop inbound and outbound traffic by
port, protocol and IP and there is no need for a PFW solution running on
the machine. A FW appliances will meet the specs in the link.

http://tinyurl.com/4awxu
The other issue is AntiVirus. I definatley want a good commercial
virus scanner for the new computer, and thought that I may as well
take advantage of any discount offers to buy two licenses. I have
installed the trial version of Kaspersky on my old computer, and it
actually found a virus on my system that previous scans with AVG Free
had not found. Hence I was quite impressed. Does anyone suggest that I
get an integrated AntiVirus & Firewall system? I have used Sygate
Personal Firewall for a couple of years and it SEEMS to work fine. Is
it worth upgrading to a commercial firewall?
Click to expand...

I use NOD32 AV and it works well on my Windows XP machines.

Why get a personal FW and install it on the machines sucking up the
machine's resouces?

You may want to look at a Hotbrick 401 that has rules based FW and other
features to protect the network.

http://www.hotbrick.com/produto.asp?tipo=3&catpro=1

I use a WatchGuard FW appliance but have my eye on the 401W and I'll plug
it into the WG after I configure the 401w to just be a AP and not a
router FW.

Duane :)
 
Duane said:
If you're talking about a Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, or Belkin routers etc
for home usage, they have NAT and maybe SPI and some FW like features.
But they don't have a FW. You cannot turn NAT off on a router and you
cannot turn the FW off on a FW appliance.
Click to expand...

So basically I should continue to run a personal firewall on my old
computer. But what about the new computer with the nForce 4 Ultra
chipset? Is the firewall on that a proper firewall that stops inbound
and outbound traffic? Or should I run a personal firewall on that as well?

Simon Howson
 
Simon said:
So basically I should continue to run a personal firewall on my old
computer. But what about the new computer with the nForce 4 Ultra
chipset?
Click to expand...

A video chipset with a firewall???
Is the firewall on that a proper firewall that stops inbound and
outbound traffic? Or should I run a personal firewall on that as
well?
Click to expand...

Yes, you should use a proper software firewall, on any Windows machine
that connects to the Internet.
http://home.rochester.rr.com/bshagnasty/tips.html#firewalls
 
A video chipset with a firewall???
Click to expand...

nForce is a mainboard chipset - not a graphics chipset
ref: http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce.html

With regards to a firewall - a hardware firewall is good protection
from inbound threats but for optimal protection against both inbound
and outbound threats it should be used in conjuntion with a software
firewall. I recommend Sygate Personal Firewall Pro www.sygate.com


Regards,
Ian Kenefick
http://www.IK-CS.com
 
So basically I should continue to run a personal firewall on my old
computer. But what about the new computer with the nForce 4 Ultra
chipset? Is the firewall on that a proper firewall that stops inbound
and outbound traffic? Or should I run a personal firewall on that as
well?
Click to expand...

It has nothing to do with your new computer. The choice is yours as to
what you want to do to protect your network from intrusion and they are
the following:

1) install a host based personal FW on the machines and some PFW(s) only
stop inbound and some stop inbound and outbound too but each one uses the
machines resources to protect and slow the machine down in doing more
productive things instead of stopping scans and attacks. Some people
don't even entertain that a PFW is even a FW period.

2) Implement a NAT router and supplement on outbound by installing PFW(s)
on the machines that can stop outbound some people just use the NAT
router with no PFW on the machines.

3) Implement a FW appliance that stops inbound and outbound by port,
protocol or IP and a PFW is not needed on the machine.

Malware such as a Trojan cannot take down a standalone NAT router or a FW
appliance, because they are not part of the computer and then don't run
with the O/S. PFW(s) do run on the computer and with the O/S and malware
can take them down and leave the machine wide open to attack.

The choice is yours.

Duane :)
 
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