Quote:
Originally posted by RickM
What about viewing sites, downloading software or watching racing clips? That's incoming isn't it?
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Anything that you've requested by clicking a link, etc, is let through, because you started the session.
I'm a big proponent of a hardware firewall at your broadband (DSL/Cable) connection PLUS a software product such as XP's firewall or Zonealarm on each box on your LAN (home network in this case). Zonealarm is nice because it monitors outgoing connections and asks if you want to allow them, until it learns what everything is. So if you have a Trojan on your PC, and it's trying to send something out, ZA will ask if that's OK, and you'll discover the Trojan.
One of my staff at work manages a Symantec firewall with about 250 clients, and some things do get through the first "layer" of defense sometimes. Sometimes it's user error, sometimes misconfiguration, sometimes a new exploit that is taking advantage of newly found weaknesses. It never hurts to have a software firewall picking up the slack.
Whatever you do, try going to
www.spinrite.com after you are set up. They have a "port scanner" that will check out your firewall defenses and let you know (in somewhat over-the-top language) if you are letting bad stuff in.
Good luck!