Router or Firewall Program?

[BobbyMurcerFan]

You all convinced me. I just picked up a Linksys 4 port router for $80. And another UPS. Thanks.

 

[TGregg]

Quote from BobbyMurcerFan:

You all convinced me. I just picked up a Linksys 4 port router for $80. And another UPS. Thanks.

Uh oh. Hope you got a switched router rather than a hub one. Switches route packets faster than hubs.

EDIT: Hmmm, fer 80 bucks you prolly got the switch, so yer prolly set. Check the docs, if you bought a hub for $80 then you bought it from a store (and you can return it). .

 

[VVVWaveRiderVVV]

Quote from BobbyMurcerFan:
You all convinced me. I just picked up a Linksys 4 port router for $80. And another UPS. Thanks.

BobbyMurcerFan...what model Linksys did you get?

Quote from CalTrader:
For the average user a simple 200-300 dollar low end router is a very good investment...

The Linksys BEFSX41 is less than $100 and includes a "Stateful Packet Inspection firewall." Is a $300 model that much better or are you just paying for the name? No offense intended...just asking and trying to learn.

 

[BobbyMurcerFan]

I got a Linksys BEFSR41 ver. 2 Router with 4-Port Switch. Good? BTW, maybe it's in my mind, but I seem to load webpages faster now (and I'm still running Norton Personal Firewall).

 

[BobbyMurcerFan]

Quote from optionsplayer:

From my own flavor & to summarzie some of the good insights from others here............you need a dynamic IP address with a software & hardware firewall. The hardware firewall for incoming stuff & the software firewall to let you know if you have obtained any trojans, spyware, etc. that may be trying to get outbound from your machine. You also want to make sure that your IP address is not being broadcast all over the universe.

There are a ton of software firewalls out there......I would be curious to here what you guys think of the latest McAfee one....it seems to really suck the life out of my machine. Performance dramatically suffered so I dumped it. This is with either XP or 98...................

If you think you currently have trojans, spyware, etc. in your machine, check out software (free trial) from Moosoft and Lavasoft to scan your computer.

As for security software, I do like Norton Personal Firewall--but I'm the person asking about routers, so I'm no expert.