Jim said:
I have a Linksys wireless router connecting my pc and my
laptop. The router Has a built in firewall. I have
Virusscan on the pc which is the host computer for this 2
computer network. Is it necessary for me to have a virus
protection program on the client computer?
These two security devices (router and virus-detection software) are
protecting against two different threats.
Yes. It is prudent to use virus protection on all the client computers.
Simplistically: The router will repel (assuming it's configured
properly) unauthorised network connections. It won't look at the content
of the packets nor will it assemble the packets into files to look at
them either. Authorised network connections are forwarded on to the
machine you call the "host", and that machine forwards them onward to
the other machines, also without inspection. Anti-virus software like
Viruscan is looking at the data files themselves for patterns of
viruses. The way they work is to look at files, assembled from the
packets, as part of the operating system's file/open process. This is
at a higher "level" than the raw network data packets.
