Re: [PCTECH] Need firewall protection, but have to LiveUpdate w/o firewall. What to do?

[David Gibbs <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dan Bale wrote:
> It would be nice to know whether the firewall is blocking anything, but it
> offers no stats for this.  

If you are running a NATing router (which pretty much all consumer grade 
routers are) then it is not 'blocking' anything ... what it is doing, or 
actually not doing, is allowing anything from the outside in.

What it is doing is simply allowing computers on your private network to 
access the internet.

Anything from the outside that tries to get in will simply hit it's head 
against the wall.

> This is perhaps one of the reasons I consider for
> using a software-based firewall, so that I can see what's hitting my PC.

Who really cares what's hitting your system ... So long as all it's 
hitting is your router, you are safe.

> The other is that, as good as a hardware firewall can possibly be, it isn't
> infallible.

Routers and software firewalls are totally different animals ... a 
software firewall's job is to stop external systems from being able to 
access your PC.  This is very important to have whenever you are dialed 
up to the internet or if you have your PC directly connected to your 
broadband connection.

When you are using a NATing router, then nothing can get to your PC 
because your PC isn't on the internet directly.  The only thing that's 
actually on the internet is your router and it doesn't offer any 
services that can be exploited.

david


--
Imagination is more important than knowledge...
-Albert Einstein