New Hardware Firewall Suggestions?

[Larry_OHF]

I think everybody missed one key word in my first post. "Replacing".
I am not new to how firewalls and routers work, and have owned one for so long that this one died of old age (6 years). It was a Microsoft router, if that dates me to when I bought it.

I only wanted to know what you guys thought was the best thing on the market today, and see how many votes were for D-Link and how many were for Netgear. I am shocked that Bungleau has a Linksys and will now have to seriously reconsider my position that they are the worst of the three leading brands.

I am sure that some things mentioned above will help somebody on IW, but does anyone have any advice "I" can use? (besides the good reference to Linksys,,,thanks for that)

By the way, I alluded to having a broadband connection in my second post, but it was not mentioned blatantly enough.
I also have a software firewall...do not fret.

[Froberg]

Linksys bad? No, not as long as you keep them firmware updated. I believe Cisco owns linksys as their "low end brand". Basically they're selling out-dated cisco equipment in a new packaging. I believe they're stopping with that, and going cisco all the way.
I think it's Linksys, might be ZyXel.

As far as I'm concerned, the best networking equipment anyone can possibly get, is made by Cisco.

edit; I was correct, Linksys is indeed owned by Cisco.

edit2; Looked at some network equipment. A router like this one: http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...=1527849779B07 Would most definitely protect you against.. well.. Almost everything.
It would also let you access your home stuff via VPN, Quite handy.

[Larry_OHF]

I actually did not know that Cisco owned them. I know while working at Circuit City, those I worked with never did refer Linksys unless the person was shopping by price, since Linksys is the cheaper one of the three.

Thanks for the link, but it looks like not many people at newegg care for it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...91&Tpk=RVS4000
I usually tend to pay attention to user data from that site.

[Larry_OHF]

While I have you all thinking about firewalls, let me go ahead and ask this. As for the software firewall, I have read nearly 100% of reviews say that Windows Firewall is the worst protection of all my choices...that I should have Comodo or ZA. However, I took some tests and allowed my system to be hit with everything they could throw at me, and I passed all tests with no trouble. Is that not to say that Windows Firewall is not as bad as all that?


Edit: Well...that is not entirely accurate. I passed the ports tests and the trojan exploits, but I got messages back from both sites that say that my browser is leaking referrer info, and if I have my cookies set to block everything, I only pass by 50%. That is the only exploit I have, but that is remedied with Firefox. Firefox has some of its own issues, so I do not use it exclusively.


Here's where I went:

http://www.pcflank.com/about.htm

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

[dplax]

The problem with Windows Firewall is that it doesn't block outgoing connections. I know of a couple of malware which can exploit that and get into the system that way...

[Froberg]

Aye, but with any decent router a lot should be stopped right there.

The integrated firewall offers on-boot protection - that is protection as soon as the computer starts up.
I've used other applications, but the drain on my computer led me to use the integrated instead. I've never looked back.

[Larry_OHF]

Looks to be that all of my research has led me to one of these two items by ZyXel.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ALL%2b2%2bPlus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833181104

I am just trying to decide now if I want the bigger one or can settle with the smaller one. I almost bought this :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124190
The Linksys wrt54GL (notice this is the L version). Its 11 time customer choice winner...but I have no need at all for the wireless router part of it and only need the firewall, so the ZyXel will probably be just fine.

Edit: I think the P1 is all I need, after looking at the 500 page instruction manual of what it is capable of doing.

[Bungleau]

I don't know, Larry... looking at the cons listed in the reviews, throttling half your bandwidth and limiting you to just one DHCP client are pretty substantial issues in my book. If the only thing about the Linksys that turns you off is that it's got Wifi, remember that you don't have to use it... and later on, you will probably want it.

It looks like the P1 would be great if you also needed a VPN... but if you're doing that, you'll probably need at least one more computer (and hence IP address...).

Still, I don't have to live at your house or support it. If the P1 sounds better to you, get it. Just be sure to make an informed decision.

[Larry_OHF]

Originally Posted by Bungleau I don't know, Larry... looking at the cons listed in the reviews, throttling half your bandwidth and limiting you to just one DHCP client are pretty substantial issues in my book. If the only thing about the Linksys that turns you off is that it's got Wifi, remember that you don't have to use it... and later on, you will probably want it. It looks like the P1 would be great if you also needed a VPN... but if you're doing that, you'll probably need at least one more computer (and hence IP address...). Still, I don't have to live at your house or support it. If the P1 sounds better to you, get it. Just be sure to make an informed decision.

You mirrored my thinking...I was looking at the instruction book for the Linksys and what its firewall capacities offer, and thinking about the Zyxel's complexities and the chance that I'd get slowed down (just one guy said that)...but the MAIN issue was the fact that in Zyxel's manual, Roadrunner ISP is actually listed as a connectivity issue (albeit they have a work-around printed in the book) and that makes me even more nervous to just buy the thing right now.

Why does this have to be so difficult?

[Larry_OHF]

So Bungleau, did you DD-WRT your router? Sounds fun.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv3/index.php

http://lifehacker.com/software/route...ter-178132.php

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

http://www.testmy.net/forum/t-12222