playing halo over the internet

[mjs]

All right guys, in plain english, how safe is my network
if my son wants to play Halo over the internet with his
buddies? We have a DSL connection with linksys
wireless/wired router with the firewall enabled. 2
machines are 98SE with no software firewall. His machine
is XP home with ICF enabled. Will I have to open a port
for him, how safe will it be and will the other machines
be safe with the router firewall enabled?

 

[Chris H.]

Ports required for Halo are listed in this Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;829473&Product=gms
As long as you keep the hardware firewall in place, and only have the
persistent port openings for the Halo, you should be fine.

You may want to check the Halo discussions in the microsoft.games.xbox.halo
newsgroup, where there are plenty of helpful people, even for the PC game.

 

[Guest]

Calm down! With a router it is so safe you could host a web site that is so secure you could protect an enterprise's server! Well anyways let him play Halo!

 

[-xiray-]

All right guys, in plain english, how safe is my network
if my son wants to play Halo over the internet with his
buddies?

Just as safe as when you're web surfing. Or when your computer is on
doing nothing and you're not sitting at the keyboard.

I have five computers on a network here. Three are used to play
online. I've never seen a problem from online games.

Most, if not all, of your troubles will come from the stuff you (or
your kids) do with chat software and when surfing.

Sounds like your kid is just beginning to use the computer a lot. I
strongly suggest you install firewall, antivirus, and a good spyware
search and destroy program. Most of the damage to your computer will
be from your kid downloading crappy freeware with spyware attached.