Linksys Hardware Firewall Question

[HansGroenewold]

Hello,

I have two PC's on a LAN network. They are attached to a Linksys broadband router which also has Vonage phone service attached to it. I also have Zone Alarm firewall, AVG virus scanner, Ad-Ware, and Spyware Blaster installed on both PC's. I had a tough time getting the LAN hooked up due in part to Zone Alarm. I hear conflicting stories as to the need of having a software firewall when a NAT hardware firewall is present with the Linksys router.

Is it necesarry to have Zone Alarm if I have a hardware firewall? I find that if I have Zone Alarm active, I have difficulty or can't even access the other PC on my network. I have heard that uninstalling Zone Alarm has caused some problems on its' own. I would just as soon have only the Linksys router as my firewall. Any opinions? Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Hans Groenewold

 

[n0cmonkey]

Those Linksys NAT boxes don't usually block outbound.

 

[skyking]

That is the big difference. It is a real eye-opener for those people who say,
"I was doing nothing with my computer, but the modem light is flashing"
When you show them the plethora of outbound connections from the OS and installed applications. Having a software firewall is educational, if you take the time to really read and understand the alerts.

 

[HansGroenewold]

I didn't know that. I thought the only threat came from inbound intruders, not outbound. Where can I get educated on this topic? I have looked over the alerts log that Zone Alarm keeps, but I don't truly understand all the information. You think I should keep Zone Alarm and just shut it down when I need to access another PC on my network?

Sincerely,
Hans

 

[skyking]

I am not a huge fan of zonealarm. That said, it can be configured with trusted zones, and allow filesharing. All you need to do is read up about it and be prepared to do a little running back and forth till you get that right.

 

[Nothinman]

I didn't know that. I thought the only threat came from inbound intruders, not outbound.

Think about it for a second, how many ways does data get into your machine? Everytime you visit a web page data is downloaded, every time you read your email data is downloaded, every time you download and run a file you run the risk of installing a trojan without even knowing it. Most Windows users run with full admin priviledges all the time so even a simple webpage exploit can infect your machine with things and you'll never know about it.

 

[arsbanned]

Zonealarm is redundant if you're running SP2, and IMO not worth running in any case whatsoever.

 

[oog]

i run a software firewall on each computer behind my router because i never know what is on the machines of people who come to visit and use my network. i don't think you can treat the inside of your network as safe.

 

[HansGroenewold]

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. Although I have Zone Alarm and SP2, I only have Zone Alarm firewall active since it shuts down the one in SP2. I did find out why I wasn't able to finish the connection on my LAN. Zone Alarm was stopping the connection so I have to shut it down on both PC's before "sharing".

Also, under local area connections/properties, I had to double click internet protocol, advanced/WINS, and enable netBIOS over TCP/IP. That seemd to take care of it and it works fine now. However, if Zone Alarm is active, it won't let me in. I do think Zone Alarm is pretty good as the reviews I read about seem to bear that out. I guess it doesn't hurt to have it running in back of the Linksys NAT firewall.

Sincerely,
Hans Groenewold

 

[ZL1]

what version of ZA ?
to enable file sharing on local network you need to go to
Firewall under main menu and then to Zones and setup trusted zones, as in the IPs of your local machines (do this on each machine)


D

 

[HansGroenewold]

Hello,

It's just the free wirewall they ofer on their web site while they try to get you to upgrade to the Pro version. As close as I can tell, it's version 5.5. I need to spend some time configuring it. Thanks.

Hans