Do I need a software Firewall with a router?

fetster · 1 Apr 2006 at 15:25

I am about to install a DrayTek Vigor 2800G Router on my office network and a DrayTec Vigor 2900VG Router on my home network.

Do i also need firewall software on the machines on the network (both networks are p2p). If not, can you reccomend a decent anti-virus package for the machines?

I currently use Norton Internet Security on each machine but would like to look elsewhere due to high usage of resources by Norton.

Thanks in advance.

CurlyWhirly · 1 Apr 2006 at 15:31

I use a software firewall with my new router as it as it was already installed and I didn't see the point in uninstalling it.

Radiation · 1 Apr 2006 at 15:32

Its a good idea to have software firewalls as well so kerio or zonalarm should do, try avg or another free virus scanner if you want and windows defender and spybot for spyware.

Uhtred · 1 Apr 2006 at 16:48

i think software firewalls do more harm than good, always breaking things and causing odd behaviour. My router, good AV with a bit of common sense has been enough for me so far.

CurlyWhirly · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:25

Zap said:
i think software firewalls do more harm than good, always breaking things and causing odd behaviour.

I've been using software firewalls for around 5 years and never had a problem with them.

I wasn't sure if having a software and a router hardware firewall would cause conflicts but apparently not as they have been co-existing on my PC with no issues.

LewisStuart · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:31

Router + XP SP2 firewall

mike1210 · 1 Apr 2006 at 22:24

Draytek routers out of the box provide great protection against incoming traffic in NAT mode only letting in data that was requested from inside the network. On my draytek I restricted outgoing ports to only allow out the traffic I needed as I didn't use software firewalls. Most routers can't montior applications that leave a network as such, however, by restricting outgoing ports you are, in a sense limiting what applications can leave a network. For a company id definately do it to stop people doing things they shouldn't

i used to only allow out:

UDP ports 53
TCP ports 80,119,443,1863 and 3389

this also helps prevents viruses communicating to the outside world as the ports they use will not be allowed out, a software firewall if its already on your pc won't do any harm. Using the XP service pack 2 firewall..... I would only see useful to protect against internal PC's as it only provides protection against incoming traffic (which the router does by default). For anti-virus i'm using NOD32 and have been very impressed with it

check out this website

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

some good reading on there

Burbleflop · 1 Apr 2006 at 22:50

mike1210 said:
i used to only allow out:

UDP ports 53
TCP ports 80,119,443,1863 and 3389

So you never sent any emails then?

mike1210 · 1 Apr 2006 at 23:02

ha ha no that was for my home. For business youd need 25 and maybe 110 of course. Just as an example like

mc_bob · 2 Apr 2006 at 09:26

LewisStuart said:
Router + XP SP2 firewall

Same, never had a problem.

Kinda OT, but I hear firewalls use up memory, is this true? Ive never notices a difference in performance with different Firewalls.

MC_Bob

Burbleflop · 2 Apr 2006 at 09:53

mc_bob said:
Kinda OT, but I hear firewalls use up memory, is this true? Ive never notices a difference in performance with different Firewalls.

If you're talking about software firewalls, then yes, of course they do. Any program that runs on your PC will use memory. You may or may not notice problems due to a lack of memory depending on how much RAM your machine has and what else is running.

Radiation · 2 Apr 2006 at 10:05

Well i think the added layer of security is a good idea as long as you learn how to setup rules and get a basic understanding you should be fine.

I think its important to say what can and can't access the net on your pc, today there's so many unnecessary programs that like to call home too often not to mention getting any dodgy stuff installed without your knowing.

Best to get a firewall other than xp's otherwise you wont have as much control, i recommend kerio.

Uhtred · 3 Apr 2006 at 10:56

running sp2 firewall and router nat is completely pointless, they do the same thing

Wyvern971 · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:46

fetster said:
Do i also need firewall software on the machines on the network (both networks are p2p). If not, can you reccomend a decent anti-virus package for the machines?

I currently use Norton Internet Security on each machine but would like to look elsewhere due to high usage of resources by Norton.

Thanks in advance.

You won't strictly need a software firewall if you set up outbound filtering on your routers (doing this properly takes time and effort)

however it may be an idea to install software firewalls to lock down access between the PCs on your network.

If this is for a corporate network, not really sure what AV/Firewall packages to recommend.

For personal use, Kerio firewall and Avast AV seem to be working OK for me.

Zap said:
running sp2 firewall and router nat is completely pointless, they do the same thing

Correct neither filter outbound traffic