router + firewall effectiveness

[Guest]

I have a Linksys WRT54G router and Windows XP SP2 Home edition running both
the Windows firewall and Mcafee's firewall.

When I look at the McAfee firewall event log, i see daily failed attempts to
access my computer. I thought the router itself would protect me from any
hackers, without the need for SW firewall. The Router is supposed to protect
my PC from most known Internet attacks with, "a powerful Stateful Packet
Inspection firewall."

Can someone help me understand why I keep seeing events in the McAfee
Firewall Event Log when I have router in place?

Thanks,

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

The details of the failed attempts, IP addresses and etc. would be helpful. Also, check your router configuration to make sure that its firewall is on.

 

[Guest]

I'm pretty sure that it's enabled. This is from the help section of the
router.

By enabling the Block WAN Request feature, you can prevent your network from
being "pinged," or detected, by other Internet users. The Block WAN Request
feature also reinforces your network security by hiding your network ports.
Both functions of the Block WAN Request feature make it more difficult for
outside users to work their way into your network. This feature is enabled by
default. Select Disable to disable this feature.

I checked and the block WAN request (firewall?) is enabled.

These are some of the inbound events
Date & time/source IP/Hostname/ Event information
2004/11/17 19:10:50 207.46.189.43:80 (cnbconmsn.net) 192.168.1.100:1910
ultrabac
2004/11/15 10:17:01 128.253.106.14:80 (www.hort.cornell.edu)
192.168.1.100:3866 Port 3866 (TCP)
2004/11/14 15:23:38 207.68.189.218:80 192.168.1.100:1588 triquest-lm
2004/11/14 15:23:38 64.29.223.152:80 (www.match.com) 192.168.1.100:1587
pra_elmd

Thanks, Jim

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Some, such as msnbconmsn are normal web sites, but why they would be trying to access your computer if you weren't logged in to their site, I don't know. One is another computer/device on your LAN (192.168.1.100)