[HarryD]

Originally posted by id10t
Yes, you should have a firewall. ZoneAlarm works great, even with a modem connection, and if you get cable, dsl, wireless, carrier pigeons, whatever - you will want to buy a router/firewall box for it - under $50 at best buy. Out of the wall, into your cable or dsl modem, into the firewall, into your computer.

Whoever provides your service will give you an email account, webspace, and possibly newsgroup access. You will need to use one of the many various web browsers (Mozilla kicks butt - Free, free, no popups unless you want 'em), email clients (again Mozilla - has a spam filter in it that you train), or whatever Internet application you want (instant messaging, irc chat, online gaming, etc).

id10t,

I tried Zone Alarm but did not like it because it blocked file sharing on my LAN. I know I can password protect my PCs (one is XP and one is Win98) but then my wife (who has the Win98 Box) gets pissed. Any decent workarounds?