Networking & wireless forum: Firewall software needed with router?

Hi. All routers will act as a hardware firewall that protects you from inbound traffic. No one outside of your router will be able to access your internal network.
One thing that routers won't protect you from is outbound traffic, such as a trojan horse or spyware on your computer trying to communicate with its home server. This is where ZoneAlarm would come in handy, since it can block outgoing traffic.

It's up to you if you want to use ZoneAlarm to protect against outgoing traffic. Personally, I rely on my router and good internet behavior (i.e.: don't use Internet Explorer, don't open attachments) to protect myself against spyware.

Hope that helps

I have been using Zonealarm for quite sometime and it has come in very handy several times. Dont remove this. However, you can add the IPs of system(s) in your home network to the Trusted network list to ensure that you can communicate to the others in the network. Also, look up Program Control tab to check if the program you are using is blocked from sending outbound traffic.

Cheers!

What about Norton Antivirus auto protect?
Norton wants the user to shut off Windows XP firewall,
so that Norton can do it for you.

Years ago,I tried ZoneAlarm,free version.My e-mail was not getting through correctly and I was getting interupted because of all the intrusions.I had to constantly "teach the program" what to filter.It could never learn.When it came time to uninstall,the program would "never go away". Deleting from the registry did not even eliminate all of it.
Firewalls are "nuts",especially when I am behind a router.What is a guy to do? Panda titanium wants to be exclusive because of their worm protection and wants me to leave my XP firewall off.On the other computer,with Norton,I just turned XP firewall on.Only one computer can properly network to the other but the other computer gives an error message that I cannot access the first one.Strange.
McAfee gave me so many problems in the past with their antivirus/firewall suite.Tech support is so bad with all of them that I just mentioned.I would have to pay to talk with a real person.
What we need is a professional software,anti-virus and firewall combination.We do not need these mass-marketed programs.They are not for professionals.

"What we need is a professional software,anti-virus and firewall combination."

I have PC-Cillin 2005 by Trend Micro and it works great. You don't hear about PC-Cillin as much as Norton or McaFee, but as a home user, it seems to me to be an excellent all-in-one security suite for windows..

It has a firewall and anti-virus (like you want) and other features such as wi-fi intrusion detection, spam filter, private data protection, etc.

I'm writing this because I've been using this program for about 6 months and haven't had any problems with it. It doesn't seem to slow down my laptop at all(I've heard Norton's programs use a lot of memory), and while I haven't had to use their customer service, I've read reviews of it and it seems their phone support is very helpful and doesn't cost anything (within the warranty period after you buy it of course).

PC-Cillin also has a trial version you can download for free from their web site for evaluation. I'm not an IT guy or computer expert, but I thought I'd just recommend this program since it's not widely known but works great for my needs.

Also, whatever program you get, be sure to have at least two anti-spyware programs (i.e. along with a professional security suite's spyware scan also get one or two of: ad-aware, spybot, MS anti-spyware, etc.)
In my experience no spyware program works for everything and it's best to have at least two. I've often scanned for ad/spy-ware with one application only to use another and find spyware the first didn't pick up.
Hope this helps,
John

I use the MS Antispyware,Spybot and AdAware.I am behind a router.I have Norton Antivirus.I had my Win XP firewall off but now I want it on.
I get viruses and spyware anyway.In my case,they come from visiting websites and from downloading pics from websites.Some sites automatically put viruses and/or spware onto your computer for you just by going there.Some of this stuff gets caught immediately and some gets found later by the scans that these antivirus/spyware programs provide.
I don't believe that any of these programs are for professionals.They do not do a professional job.
I think the filtering problem is with the ISP's and the web hosting services.They all make money.They allow this traffic to occur on their networks.They do not handle it on their end.

I have two computers, a laptop and a desktop which has three different operating systems. The laptop was recently scanned and was ridden with spyware, which was to be expected as i had been using it for years with no antispyware software (thou i had firewall and antivirus)
Then onto my desktop. I have three operating system installs, one of w2k and two of xp professional. The strange thing is that although they have all been used similar amounts, my most recent install of xp is completely clean, whilst the other two have a reasonable amount.
It seems that once you get some spyware you suddenly get bombarded with it, and even if you clean your system well you will still get it in copious amounts. The one with no spyware i have not been especially carefull or vigilant but i just dont install stupid things.
Whatever you do NEVER EVER EVER allow internet explorer to install active x applets. Many are good but many more are ridden with spyware, and they contain nasty stuff as you are actually allowing access to your computer.

Just this morning I solved a long time problem with my wireless router. It would not allow me to play news videos from MSNBC. I was finally advised to diable the router firewall and WHA-LA! So, it's software for me from here on out.

A hardware firewall to protect you from external threats is definite. I have been running several companies such as netgear, linksys, d-link, and cisco, etc. These have been set-up at homes and small/medium business by myself as a network consultant. I would also highly recommend that a software firewall on the machine is used. Yes it maybe a hastle but it blocks thing that you don't know about. I don't think that the program can bypass a firewall on the machine but it will pop up a message if you have your firewall set to manually challenge all programs so you know what is goin on. This client based firewalls not only protect you from transmitting out things that you don't want but it also protects you from other devices on the inside of your network that maybe compromised or hackers on the inside (for such as a corporate environment). At many organizations I have seen constant threats of viruses on the inside attacking other machines because they didn't have the proper protection and patches installed.

I am behind a hardware firewall in my Linksys wireless router dsl network, have the XP firewall turned on, run M$ AntiSpyware (which is fabulous by the way) AND use the ISS BlackIce software firewall.
I periodically run LeakTest from http://www.grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm
The ONLY times LeakTest was unable to access their servers was when BlackIce was enabled. The hardware firewall surely protects from INCOMING probes but does NOTHING to stop errant outgoing junk.
So....do you want TOTAL protection? DO NOT buy a ''SUITE'' of junk, overpriced bloatware to overload your system. Buy a dedicated product that WORKS.