Firewall enquiry

[Peter in New Zealand]

For some years I have had a LAN with four computers at home, based on a
DLink DSL504T modem/router also providing access to the Internet. With the
kids all grown up and gone now-a-days I decided to simplify everything. My
one remaining machine now connects to the Internet via a SmartAX ADSL2+
MT882 modem using the ethernet port.

The old DLink had a hardware firewall built in, and I also ran a software
firewall on each individual computer. My question is, now with a firewall in
the new modem, and no LAN any more, do I really need a software firewall on
my single machine as well any more? I am running Windows XP SP3 with the
Windows firewall enabled at present.

Many thanks for any advice offered.

 

[Anteaus]

Depends if other computers connect to this router. If so, or if this is
likely, then I would leave the firewall on.

 

[Bob Willard]

For some years I have had a LAN with four computers at home, based on a
DLink DSL504T modem/router also providing access to the Internet. With the
kids all grown up and gone now-a-days I decided to simplify everything. My
one remaining machine now connects to the Internet via a SmartAX ADSL2+
MT882 modem using the ethernet port.

The old DLink had a hardware firewall built in, and I also ran a software
firewall on each individual computer. My question is, now with a firewall in
the new modem, and no LAN any more, do I really need a software firewall on
my single machine as well any more? I am running Windows XP SP3 with the
Windows firewall enabled at present.

Many thanks for any advice offered.

The modem's firewall and XP's firewall are both one-way firewalls: they
supply protection against inbound evils, but no protection against outbound
evils. I'd replace XP's firewall with ZoneAlarm to get some outbound
protection, in case you download some malware.

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

Mmmm - that's a really good point. My machine is always connected on
broadband, and does contain some reasonably confidential data. I have it
encrypted, but your comment is a valid one. Might look into something like
that. Many thanks for your thoughts Bob.