Router Firewall config/general network security questions

[CaptainBill]

Alright, here's the scenario. We have a simple NetGear WGR614 router sharing our Satellite connection between two PCs. PC one is wired directly to the router, PC2 is connected wireless. I have AntiVir running on PC1 and PC2 has McAffee. The wireless is WEP 64bit encrypted, and both computers are running windows firewalls. Now, the Netgear config page was less than impressive when I first launched it (we had a Buffalo originally, but it just simply quit on us after only two weeks of use (wouldn't power on, etc)). Anyways, the netgear has a section for blocking specific URLs, but not ports. There is an SPI firewall option that you can turn on and off, but nothing else. Question for you is, should I invest in another third party firewall or what?

I've never really been attacked until the other day when someone logged onto one of my forum accounts and spammed a ton of people. That very same day, I came home to all of my program windows being shut down (this has never happened before and I had a lot of things open). I've heard that the XP SP2 firewall is a little better in that is doe block outgoing traffic as well as inbound or is this hearsay? I can't run a limited user account well because some of my programs won't run correctly with a limited user account. So I'm running as the computer admin, so that's also not good. Any suggestions here?

I've never really put a whole lot of thought into network security until now, and would like to be as secure as possible, but I'm really not sure if I'm there yet, or what other options I have.

 

[JackMDS]

I do not think that you can get an answer since you did not explain what happend.

What does it mean: "I came home to all of my program windows being shut down".

Do you know what actually shut down the system?

What do you mean by attack, if your forum are opened to the public, every one that is allowed to Log On can Spam.

Spam per-se is unwanted content but it is Not an attack.

 

[CaptainBill]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
I do not think that you can get an answer since you did not explain what happend.

What thid means: "I came home to all of my program windows being shut down".

Do you know what actually shut down the system?

What do you mean by attack if your forum are open to the public every one that is allowed to Log On can Spam.

Spam pre-se is unwanted content but it is Not an attack.

Sorry about the vague explanation. Here's what happened. I have a myspace account (I actually don't have anything on it, and it was only created to look at some pictures on a friend's profile once). I never check it, so one day I get an email from one of my friends (who happens to have a Myspace account as well), telling me that someone is logged in to my account and spamming him and others with messages on their pages. Once he told me that, I logged in, looked at the dates that they occured, and found a correlation that on the days that my account was hacked, or password phished, and the messages were sent out, these were the same days I cam home to all of my program windows being shut down. What I mean by the programs being shut down, I left home with (this is hypothetical) Photoshop open, 6-7 firefox tabs, and instant messanger open. When I came home, all of them were gone...closed. When I went to relaunch Firefox it gives you the option to restore your session or start a new one (like what happens when Firefox closes unexpectedly. So this is where I'm at. I've never had something like this happen, so even if it may be unrelated to a firewall issue, I still had this experience open my eyes into being more careful about security. So, even if the event is unrelated, I want to have good protection for the future.