Netgear router.. is my firewall working?

Jimbo · 20 Feb 2006 at 09:25

I have a Netgear DG834G router/firewall/adsl modem and was wondering how do I know the firewall is setup? Do I have to do anything to set it up? I just installed it and it works ok but am I missing something?

Nathan · 20 Feb 2006 at 09:35

What would you want the firewall to do? I use it to stop people downloading via p2p over my network, so bandwidth is readily available

If you want it for security, its fine as it is as XP does all that.

Jimbo · 20 Feb 2006 at 09:40

Yeah thanks mate, I just want it for security. I was just wondering if I needed to do anything to configure it at all. I have turned off the windows xp firewall as I have my router/firewall so I just needed to know it was working ok.

Burbleflop · 20 Feb 2006 at 09:46

By default the firewall will block all incoming traffic and allow all outgoing traffic so by default it is most likely ok for you.

I'd still keep a software firewall on your machine though so that you have control over which programs have access to the internet. That way should a nasty get installed you can stop it phoning home. The XP firewall doesn't give you any control over outbound access, so you'd need to look for something else.

Jimbo · 20 Feb 2006 at 10:47

Thanks very much for the advice, sounds like its setup just fine for my needs.

Mikey1280 · 20 Feb 2006 at 11:13

Just get ZoneAlarm (its free) or something similar to give you control over program acccess.

Blackstar_solar · 20 Feb 2006 at 13:03

goto https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Despite how dodgy the url looks its called Shields Up (google it if you like) it'll test to see which ports, if any, are open.

Handy webby that

Jimbo · 20 Feb 2006 at 14:41

Blackstar_solar said:
goto https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Despite how dodgy the url looks its called Shields Up (google it if you like) it'll test to see which ports, if any, are open.

Handy webby that

Hey thats excellent, thanks very much.